A staggering 643 percent above average rain accompanied by hail in Uttar Pradesh and over 750 percent of more rain in Madhya Pradesh, from last week of February till now, may severely affect harvesting of wheat in the two high quality wheat producing states.
This has come at a time when the country was expecting a record production of wheat (95.6 million tons) this year. However, the impact will not be so big as years of bumper harvest have ensured that there is ample stock of wheat in government granaries.
Heavy rain, strong winds and hail have not only delayed the harvest of wheat but could also force the government to revise the wheat production estimate.
On the other hand, the fury of rain gods has made the recently predicted rise of about 11 percent in rapeseed output in 2013/14, look very optimistic. Isha Trivedi, an analyst at Phillip Commodities India Pvt Ltd says, the output could drop to 5 percent due to recent changes in the weather in India.
The rapeseed crop has been severely affected in Ajmer and Jaipur regions of Rajasthan, the highest producers of rapeseed in India. The early sown crops have been affected more than the late sown crops," said Dhiraj Singh, director at the Directorate of Rapeseed-Mustard Research, adding overall production would still be higher than last year.
India had produced 6.85 million tons of rapeseed in 2012/13 and was relying on a bumper crop in the year, ending Oct 31, 2014.
According to the latest weather update by Skymet’s Meteorological Division in India, the continuation of rainy weather in Central India with chances of hailstorm, could further damage the already affected crops in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
“Possibilities of a hailstorm once again in Uttar Pradesh, cannot be ruled out”, says Mahesh Palawat of Skymet’s Meteorological Division.
Photo by tribuneindia.
