The Hindu Business Line : Unseasonal rainfall, hailstorm may impact rabi crops

UNSEASONAL rainfall in Tamil Nadu and heavy hailstorm in the North could affect rabi rice and wheat crops to some extent, according to the Agriculture Ministry.

Unseasonal rains in Tamil Nadu have hit the samba/thaladi (winter) rice crop in many districts. On the other hand, hailstorm has left standing crops in roughly 44,000 hectares affected in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh.

In Punjab, hailstorm has hit wheat and other crops in Abohar, Bhathinda,, Barnala, Malout and Muktsar.

In Haryana, it has affected the crops in Narnaul, Bhiwani, Kaithal, Sirsa, Fatehabad and Rewari. In Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal, the crops have been hit in Lucknow, Sultanpur, Dehradun and Mukteshawar.

Horticulture crop could be worst hit and some of the fruits' quality could suffer, the Ministry said in a statement. Gram crop could also be adversely hit, it said.

Another area of concern is the decline in the water storage level. Last weekend, the total storage level in the 73 major reservoirs across the country was only 96 per cent of the previous year's level. The storage level is also only 80 per cent of the average storage level during the last 10 years.

With sowing almost over, the area under wheat this year is marginally lower at 264.67 lakh hectares (lh) than last year (265.59 lh).

While Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have reported a decrease in the coverage, the area is up in Madhya Pradesh.

In the case of rice, the area has increased to 28.06 lh (26.08 lh), though it is a far cry from the normal 40 lh with all southern States reporting a rise in coverage.

Sowing of coarse cereals is up by over 6 lh at 70.52 lh with barley, maize and jowar coverage all going up.

With gram sowing declining by over two lh, the total pulses coverage has dipped by 2.86 lh.

The area under oilseeds, however, has witnessed a rise of 8.02 lh at 102.08 lh.

While rapeseed/mustard coverage has increased by over nine lh, sowing of groundnut, sunflower, linseed and sesamum has dipped.

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