NEW DELHI: Rains, accompanied by hailstorms, over Northwest and East India on March 18 have wreaked havoc on rabi crops, especially ready-to-harvest wheat, gram and mustard crops. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast that similar situations would continue over Northwest, central, east and northeast India on March 20.
According to the IMD data, the rain registered in wheat-growing regions ranged from 137 per cent to 10,000 per cent above the normal on March 18. On March 17, the excess rainfall of the same region ranged from 540 per cent to 10,000 per cent. Moreover, the rainfall distribution is erratic.
For instance, on March 16, only the Etawah district received 4,900 per cent rainfall above the normal. On March 17 in Eastern UP, seven out of 42 districts only received significant rain of 292 per cent above normal. The extreme weather events would threaten India’s food security as these regions are known for wheat production.
According to the Directorate of Economics & Statistics, India’s 85 per cent of wheat comes from only five states-- UP (32.42 per cent), MP (16.08 per cent), Punjab (15.65 per cent), Haryana (11.28 per cent) and Rajasthan (10.08 per cent). “The rain severely damaged wheat and gram crops in Rajasthan,” says CP Gupta, a Kota-based agriculture trader. “Due to lack of storage facilities, harvested crops which kept in fields got and submerged under this rain,” he said.
“Our standing crop got lodged and harvested crop submerged as it laid on the fields,” says Praveen Parmar, a farmer based in the Sehore district of MP. “Our crops will face a quality issue when it reaches mandis,” added Parmar. MP-based Agri-commodity expert Sachin Kochar has also echoed the concern of farmers. “I feel rainfall may impact the quality of wheat crop if not quantity,” said Kochar.
Harvesting of wheat in Punjab and Haryana is yet to start. But excess rain has spoiled the mood of farmers and government agency. Punjab and Haryana yields are the highest in the country – 5 tonnes/hectares (T/Ha), whereas all-India’s average yield is around 3.4 T/Ha. It contributes to India’s buffer stock.
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