Unseasonal rain and hailstorms in March and April have impacted wheat crops across 111 districts in nine States, leading to an estimated 5-10 per cent drop in overall production. Agriwatch, in a report for the Roller Flour Millers Federation of India, also warned that up to 30 per cent of the harvest in affected areas suffers from quality degradation, including shrivelled grains and luster loss.
The government has estimated India’s wheat production this year at a record 120.21 million tonnes.
In a report submitted to the industry body, Agriwatch has informed that a total of 111 districts got affected with damages ranging between as low as 3 per cent and as high as 25 per cent due to rains and recent hailstorms, sources said.
Badly hit by hailstorm
In Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Bihar harvesting has been completed in 10-15 per cent of the area. It said that where the crop was in maturity to harvest stages, 25-30 per cent area have reported damages in the affected districts.
Maximum damage – 15-25 per cent — was reported from Punjab’s Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Rupnagar (earlier Ropar) districts, Haryana’s Rewari, UP’s Hamirpur, Bihar’s Begusarai and West Bengal’s Dakshin Dinajpur. Similarly, three districts of Punjab and one each in UP and Bihar may have 10-15 per cent loss in production, sources said quoting from the report.
But, a maximum of 51 districts in 8 States may have 3-5 per cent crop loss, particularly in areas where there were unseasonal rains and hailstorms. Though the report says in Bikaner wheat output may have 3-5 per cent losses, but it was the most badly affected district in terms of damage due to hailstorms on April 2.
Buy target
The government targets to buy 303.36 lakh tonnes (lt) of wheat for the Central Pool stock by June 30. Central teams have already been sent to Rajasthan and Haryana to assess crop damage after the state governments’ requested for relaxation in quality norms for the procurement.
On wheat crop outlook, Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra, earlier this week, said that it was looking good. But, there were requests from Haryana and Rajasthan for relaxation of the FAQ (Fair Average Quality) norms after the unseasonal rains hit the crop. “We have sent our teams to these states to find out the ground-level position, and if required, we’ll give them the relaxation very soon so that the farmers do not suffer any problem in selling the produce,” he had said.
Agriwatch had last month submitted a preliminary report to the flour millers’ body where it mentioned about farmers in many of the affected districts suffered lodging and damage to matured crops from hailstorm, affecting quality, potentially luster loss in the grain.