The Hindu Business Line : Bihar floods take a toll on paddy

New Delhi, Sept 5 The unprecedented floods in Bihar have destroyed the standing paddy crop in about two lakh hectares (lh), according to preliminary official assessments.

“Two lh is the initial assessment that the State Government has given to us. It could probably end up being even more,” a top official from the Union Agriculture Ministry told Business Line here on Friday.

The overall damage to the country’s overall rice production will not be much, the official said, while adding that “this does not, of course, minimise the extent of tragedy and suffering from a micro perspective”.

Bihar mainly grows paddy during the kharif season, with a total area of 34.11 lh being planted so far this year, against the corresponding coverage of 32.26 lh during 2007.

Meanwhile, according to the Ministry’s latest Crop Weather Watch Report, total area sown under rice, soyabean and castor has been more than last year’s levels, while lagging behind in other oilseeds, all coarse cereals and pulses, cotton, sugarcane and jute.

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