Wheat, mango, grapes, onion, pulses and gram, almost all staple food items in your kitchen are expected to see a price rise and poor quality as unseasonal rain dashes the harvest of winter crop this year.
Across the country, rain and hailstorms have left farmers helplessly watching at their flattened crops and waterlogged fields that could have given them a bumper harvest this year. The prospect of substantially good yield and output, however, seems a distant dream this year as according to Skymet Meteorology Division in India, more rain across plains of North India is expected before March comes to an end.
Also Read: More rain to come in March
Since the beginning, rain in March not only plummeted the temperatures across Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and even Maharashtra but gave untimely and unrequired rain over the crops in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana. From 5th March – 11th March, west Rajasthan received excess rainfall of 268%, while Madhya Maharashtra received rainfall which was 1000% excess of the monthly average. In fact, water-starved Vidarbha and Marathwada too received rainfall that remained surplus for the region for the month.
Owning to such excess rainfall, while wheat is likely to suffer a loss of 30-50% in production this year, mangoes and oranges are expected to closely follow by an output loss of 30-40%. In Maharashtra, almost 40% each of onion and grape crop has been damaged due to spat of hailstorms since October.
The affect has been disastrous and the impact is likely to be adverse. Heavy rains have led to short supply of fruits and vegetables that in turn has led to price rise of vegetables in demand. Unable to cope with mounting debts and failed harvest, several farmers have resorted to committing suicides in parts of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
While India’s import of palm oil has been hampered since last year due to floods in Malaysia, its prospects of export of wheat and mangoes too seems jeopardized in the wake of unseasonable rain.
