MULTAN: The paddy growers have been advised to harvest the crop at proper time to avoid 5-10 per cent produce losses.
In a release issued by media liaison unit of Punjab agriculture department, experts said that paddy crop is ready for harvest only when its grains have 20-22 per cent moisture.
Farmers can easily assess the harvest time by utilizing the moisture measuring tools. Experts said that premature harvest breaks the green or unripe rice granules and cause losses. And the grains obtained from this harvested crop usually burst during cooking.
Rice granules are again at the risk of being broken if harvested late, experts warned. When paddy crop is near maturity it require very low water supply. Farmers should stop water two weeks before the harvest.
The worms usually go into the lower portions of the plants upon crop maturity. Farmers should cut the plants from near the ground to drive the pests or bollworms to the remains of the crop. Harvesting the crop from its upper portion, by hand or machine, would leave the pests inside the lower part of plant and enable them spent summer time inside the standing plant sticks. These sticks, if not disposed of through proper plough, can be detrimental for the next crop.
After the harvest, farmers should not delay removal of skin from rice grains and then let them dry. Farmers should not let the temperature go above 48 Celsius during the process of making the production dry. The temperature should be maintained at 40-43 Celsius. Paddy should be dried slowly and in phases and duration of every phase should not be below 12 hours to ensure uniform quantity of moisture in every grain of rice.
