Cold wave damages crops in Akole, India

PUNE: Crops in their early stages of growth were damaged due to extreme cold wave in Akole taluka in Ahmednagar district.

The main cash crop - onion - did not suffer, but the frost, which was unexpected in the middle of the planting season of the summer crop, proved harmful to horse gram, pearl millet, maize, beans and groundnut.

This is the second consecutive year of climate variability here. Last year, the untimely rain in June had damaged the summer crop.

Crispino Lobo, co-founder and managing trustee of the Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR), an NGO working for the climate change adaptation project in this region, said extreme cold in February and March, the middle of the planting season of the summer crop, proved to be harmful for the crops. "February and March are almost the end of winter in Maharashtra, and cold wave is not experienced during this time. Rather, a cold wave at the height of winter, middle of December or first week of January, is beneficial for the rabi crop," he said. Read More