S Asian countries may face food shortage:UN

The South Asian countries, including India, that have been hit by floods and landslides affecting more than 28 million people, face "serious" threats of food shortage, the United Nations said today.

The loss of animals and unfavourable crop prospects following damage to recently planted crops had adversely affected the food situation and was a "serious cause for concern", UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said.

"Opportunities for replanting once the water has fully receded are limited as the sowing period of the main cereal season normally ends in July in India and Bangladesh and by mid-August in Nepal," it said.

In India, where the three worst flood-affected states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Assam account for roughly a quarter of the country's total rice production, preliminary reports indicate that about 1 million hectare of cereal land had been submerged in Bihar alone, it reported in its latest update on the flood situation.

While this year's cereal production is likely to be less in these three north-eastern states, output at national level will depend on weather conditions in the coming months, FAO reported.

In Nepal, the affected agro-ecological zone of Terai (plains) is the country's grain basket, accounting for over 70 per cent of the total production of rice, the basic staple.

Though water levels have receded from the second week of August, thousands of hectare of agricultural land has been destroyed at the peak of the planting season.

While a detailed assessment of crop losses is not yet available, the overall outlook for this year's production has deteriorated. At sub-national level, food shortages in the Terai, affected by drought and floods in 2006, are likely to worsen, the food agency said.

In Bangladesh, preliminary official estimates indicate that some 854,000 hectare of rice paddy has been lost to floods and another 582,000 hectare partially damaged. In aggregate, the area affected represents some 13 per cent of the total planted area, seriously undermining the prospects for this year's rice production.