‘New water Act responsible for early rain,good weather’

“To ensure pre-monsoon rains we need ‘hot and dry’ weather during peak summers in May and June as this type of weather attracts clouds,” said A S Mann,a paddy expert and agricultural development officer.

According to Mann,for over a decade,early sowing in May caused ‘ hot and humid’ weather conditions at the peak of summer which prevented the formation of clouds,required for pre- monsoon rain.

“During the early paddy sowing season,farmers used to convert entire fields into water pools causing a humid layer to form in the air that repelled clouds during the pre-monsoon season,” said another agri expert and chief agriculture officer,Jalandhar,Swatantra Aiery.

With the implementation of this Act,the state has received substantial showers during the pre-monsoon period for the past couple of years and this rain is fulfilling the requirement of excessive water needed to plant the paddy,added Aiery.

According to experts,the new legislation has also improved the micro environment of the state and benefited farmers as well. “The ban has also improved the weather in the state by bringing the mercury down even in the hottest months of the year,” said Mann.

The early rain helps in cultivating paddy saplings and improving the quality of paddy transplantation as it contains several minerals,said another expert Naresh Gulati,Deputy Director Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA).