This March parts of the country experienced unseasonal rains. The level of destruction of rabi crops may surpass initial assessment across 50 lakh hectares of land. This would lead to the incurring of losses of around thousands of crores as per preliminary reports received by the agriculture ministry.
A ministry official said on condition of anonymity: "It's too early to give an exact assessment of the weather pattern. State governments can give reports on losses only once the situation of more rains is settled out. However, it's true that the unseasonal showers will affect production of various crops like wheat, barley, mustard, pulses and fruits like mango, orange, banana, grapes and apple substantially. Wheat losses are going to be over 15 per cent as per the current predicted weather pattern."
He added that the loss to the agriculture sector could be attributed to a few overarching reasons. The first reason could be the unseasonal winds, rains and hailstorms that flatten plants. The second reason is diseases that could afflict crop due to attacks by pests. The official said that the fact that the crops would be of poor quality is a foregone conclusion.
Till the first week of March agriculture ministry reports showed that standing crops in over 50 lakh hectares of land in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and West Bengal would be destroyed. This included 27 lakh hectares in Uttar Pradesh, 7.5 lakh in Mahrashtra, 14.5 lakh hectares in Rajasthan, 50,000 hectares in West Bengal and 6,000 hectares in Punjab. The major reason for the loss is that the crops are destroyed at the stage when they are maturing.
Initial assessments show that Punjab has pegged its losses to the tune of Rs 2,000-3,000 crore claiming that yields of wheat, barley, mustard and peas are going to be affected the most. Similarly, in Madhya Pradesh, 450 villages in 14 districts are said to be affected by rain and hailstorms as per the initial reports received by the agriculture department. An official from MP state agriculture department said: "In our state standing crops of lentil and chickpea along with wheat, mustard and corriander has been affected. Maximum damage happened in Rewa Division and western Madhya Pradesh due to hail."
Talking to dna, IMD Agricultural Meteorology Division deputy director general N Chattopadhyay said, "This unfavourable weather is being witnessed since the first week of March. The Indian Meteorological Department hasalready predicted the weather and cautioned the farmers by issuing various advisories like putting hail nets for grapes, picking up oranges as they fall and not to allow them to be in contact with soil and water for more than five hours and by cleaning water channels so that there is no waterlogging."
The IMD official attributed the current weather conditions to an upper air cyclonic circulation over Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. They said that the air cyclonic circulation has extended up to 7.6 km above mean sea level. The rain and thunderstorm activity may see a decrease by the end of this week.
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