Commenting on this situation, meteorologist, Anand K Sharma of Agromet unit of India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that due to fog and dew formation, the leaf wetness duration has increased leading an increase in chances of diseases in wheat, gram, potato and mustard crops. Therefore, the situation needed to be monitored carefully and the farmers should take adequate precautions.

Sharma, however, stated that the incidences of pests and diseases on crops could have been worse if the temperatures remained above normal. Now that the temperatures have started falling near normal and below normal since the last 15 days, there is a succour to the situation, he said.

He said that incidence of thick fog is due tothe high atmospheric humidity caused due to heavy showers in the later half of the monsoon season.

Temperatures: Maximum early morning temperatures fell below normal by 10 degrees centigrade in Patiala, followed by 8 degrees below normal in Chandigarh, Hissar and Amritsar. In Delhi, the maximum early morning temperature fell by 5 degrees below normal. In rest of the country, the maximum early morning temperatures were almost near normal, except in Imphal and Shillong where both the maximum and minimum early morning temperatures were 3 degrees above normal.

The minimum early morning temperatures were near normal in some parts of the country except in Jammu and Srinagar where they were 5 degrees below normal and Hissar where it was 4 degrees above normal. In north India night temperatures were above normal in Haryana, Punjab and east Rajasthan and below normal in Jammu and Kashmir and normal in the rest of the region.The lowest temperature recorded in the plains was 3.6 degree centigrade in Bikanerin Rajasthan on December 24.

Fog situation: Thick layers of fog were seen over Chandigarh, Hissar, Delhi, Jammu, Amritsar, Patiala, Jaipur, Allahabad, Lucknow, Varanasi and Patna. Milder layers of fog was also seen over Guwahati and Pune.

Layers of mist was seen over Srinagar, Agartala, Bhubaneswar and Imphal. Haze was observed over Udaipur, Dehradun, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Calcutta, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune and Thiruvananthapuram.

Snowfall: Rain or snowfall is likely at isolated places in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and in the hills of UP.

Atmospheric humidity: Atmospheric humidity levels continued to remain much high over normal in several cities of the country expect in Srinagar, Amritsar, Bangalore, Agartala, Calcutta and Guwahati where they ranged between 5 to 9 per cent above normal. In Chennai, the atmospheric humidity levels were near normal.

However, in Bhopal and Imphal, the atmospheric humidity levels were 10 per cent below normal. InHyderabad it was 8 per cent below normal and in Shillong it was 4 per cent below normal.

The atmospheric humidity level was highest in Shimla being 42 per cent above normal followed by Jaipur where atmospheric humudity was 38 per cent above normal. In Jammu it was 34 per cent above normal and Delhi 31 per cent above normal. In Dehradun it was 28 per cent above normal and in Pune it was 27 per cent above normal. In Ahmedabad and Chandigarh it was 25 per cent above normal. In Hissar it was 22 per cent above normal whereas in Patiala, Allahabad, Mumbai, Delhi and Patna, the atmospheric humidity levels were 20 per cent above normal.

ADVICE TO FARMERS:

Wheat: The Agromet unit of IMD has advised the farmers of north India to apply first irrigation to wheat crops sown 25 days earlier. For control of weeds, one being should be done after first irrigation with wheel hoe or blade hoe. Farmers are advised to use recommended herbicides wherever manual removal of weeds is not possible. Second dose ofnitrogen at the rate of 60 kg per hectre should be applied on wheat fields after first irrigation.

Gram: Farmers of north India are advised to irrigate the timely sown crop after 45 days of sowing. As incidence of pod borer is observed over crops in UP, Punjab and Rajasthan, Monocrotophos 36 SL or Endosuephan 35 EC should be mixed in 100 litres of water and sprayed over crops covering an acre.

Rabi oilseeds: Farmers of north India are advised to spray 300 ml Dimethoat 30 EC or 60-90 ml Dimecron 85 SL mixed with 300 litre of water over crops covering one acre in order to control mustard aphids. For control of alternaria blight and white rust over crop, farmers are advised to spray Mancoceb, Fudofil M-45 or Manceb at the rate of 800 gm per acre.

Potato: For control of grasshopper and jassids in UP, the farmers are advised to use the recommended insecticides.

Crop situation:

Wheat: According to the Crop Weather Watch Group of the Union Agriculture Ministry, wheat cropis in germination to early tillering stage. The sowing of early varieties in Punjab and Haryana is almost complete and the sowing of late sown varieties is in progress. The total area covered under wheat till date is 19.6 million hectre as compared to 18.5 million hectre in the corresponding period in 1997-98 and 19.7 million hectre in the same period in 1996-97.

Rabi price: Rice crop is in maturity to harvesting stage. Sowing or Transplanting of rice is in progress. The area coverage under rabi rice is 1.67 million hectre as compared to 1.64 million hectre in the like period in the previous year.