The Hindu Business Line : Kharif crops in over 18 lakh hectares affected

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Kharif crops in over 18 lakh hectares affected

Late burst of monsoon may boost rabi crop plantings.

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Sept. 19 Over 18 lakh hectares (lh) of area planted under kharif crops in the current year have been affected due to floods till end-August, according to the provisional estimates made by the Home Ministry.

According to data compiled by the Disaster Management Division within the Ministry — based on the latest inputs received from various States/Union Territories — the 18 lh of cropped area affected by floods mainly covers Andhra Pradesh (4.32 lh), Uttar Pradesh (4.15 lh) and Bihar (3.33 lh).

Other States to have reportage crop area damage include Punjab (2,07,027 hectares), Assam (1,35,345 hectares), West Bengal (1,19,858 hectares), Orissa (1,19,000 hectares), Haryana (21,725 hectares), Himachal Pradesh (18,390 hectares), Kerala (5,384 hectares) and Karnataka (2,241 hectares).

It is difficult, however, to make projections of crop production losses from these estimates. The main reason for this is that the data is from States who may tend to exaggerate damage claims in order to obtain greater calamity relief support from the Centre. Also, even the affected areas may not end up with 100 per cent crop loss.

But a reasonably reliable guess is that at least 10 lh all over the country, mostly under paddy, have suffered inundation. Considering that a not insignificant part of this lies in high-yielding areas such as Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal — where average rice yields range between 2.5 to 4 tonnes a hectare — this could translate into an output loss of about 3 million tonnes.

Rabi campaign meet

A clearer picture may emerge in the coming week at the National Conference on Agriculture for Rabi Campaign 2008. At the end of the two-day conference on September 25, the Union Agriculture Ministry would be releasing its “first advance estimates” of production of kharif foodgrains, oilseeds, cotton, sugarcane and jute during 2008-09.

Meanwhile, the Ministry’s latest Crop Weather Watch report, released here on Friday, shows lower coverage under all kharif coarse cereals (maize, bajra, jowar), pulses (arhar, urad, moong), most oilseeds (groundnut, sunflower, sesamum, niger), cotton, sugarcane and jute. Only in rice, soybean and castor have farmers sown more area — though the impact of floods, particularly on rice, remains to be seen.

Dry-spell havoc

In most kharif crops, especially pulses, coarse cereals and even cotton, the main villain has been the extended dry spell from end-June right up to the third week of July, coinciding with the peak sowing period.

Although the south-west monsoon did revive after that, it was too late for farmers to take up planting in many areas of Maharashtra and Karnataka. Where sowing did take place, the yields are expected to be below par.

The Ministry’s hope now is that the late burst of monsoon rains will boost planting of rabi crops on lands that remained fallow during kharif due to poor precipitation in July. It is anticipated that almost 50 per cent of unsown kharif area in Maharashtra and North Karnataka will be covered under the rabi jowar crop, while the rest can be brought under sunflower, safflower, gram and other pulses.

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