Frost causes heavy damage to potato and vegetable crops in northern India

Potato farmers in the northern parts of the country have suffered heavy crop losses due to ground frost owing to the fall in temperatures in the last week, as Shagun reports for DownToEarth. While potato crop has suffered the maximum damage, ground frost has also affected other vegetable crops and mustard across fields in Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. In some fields, the damage has been between 30-40 per cent. For farmers who planted some of the late varieties, sown in late November or early December, the damage has been as high as 80 per cent of the crop. For example, of 16-hectare (ha) potato crops planted, Jaskaran Singh lost crops on around 10 ha. “The late variety plants have turned black and suffered 80 per cent damage. They had crossed the germination stage. But now, ...