SWABI: Heavy rainfall coupled with hailstorm lashed the district and damaged wheat and tobacco crops, inflicting heavy losses on farmers.

The rain started at around 7pm on Wednesday evening and continued till Thursday morning. “We haven’t witnessed such heavy rain in this season in the past,” farmers said.

They said that usually it rained lightly in that season and didn’t damage crops. They said that the heavy rain also affected harvesting of crops. Some of the already harvested crop was damaged by the rain while the hailstorm harmed the standing crops. The growers said that rain would delay harvesting of wheat crop besides affecting its yield. The bread of rain-affected wheat is usually not liked by people. It causes decrease in its price and inflicts financial losses on the poor growers.

“Apart from delaying the harvesting and thrashing process of the wheat crop, the rain has affected the quality of grain and it might turn black. It will also reduce the crop price when farmers take it to the market to sell it. In short the rain has inflicted great losses on the farmers,” Khalid Khan, the president of Kisan Board, told Dawn.

He said that the current season was very tough for the farmers. The growers wanted to complete harvesting and threshing of wheat quickly but the rain affected their entire plan.

The farmers said that bad weather affected wheat crop for the second time in the district recently. They said that the impact of rain was visible in all wheat growing areas of the district.

Khan Gul, a farmer of Maneri village, said that he hired more workers to complete the harvesting and thrashing of wheat soon. “But the downpour affected the quality of grain besides delaying the entire process,” he added.

Leaders of Kashthkar Coordination Council said the rain affected the quality of wheat. The farmers were confused as they did not know what should be done, they added.