 "Kharif crops face flood threat")
Prime Minister Narendra Modi telephoned the chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh on Monday to review the flood situation in these states.
This had taken a grave turn over the past few days, due to relentless rain, endangering lives and crops.
"I pray for the safety and wellbeing of those in areas affected by floods in parts (of) UP, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and MP," Modi tweeted.
PTI reported quoting Agriculture Secretary Shobhana K Patnaik that kharif crops, like paddy, sown in about 10,000 hectares (ha) in five-flood hit states have been impacted so far in the floods."About 5,000 to 10,000 hectares in flood plains have been impacted due to floods. We are yet to get the complete update from the states," Patnaik said.
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Preliminary reports, said state officials, show not much damage has been done to crops that can withstand water, such as paddy. Some impact could be expected in those which can't sustain submergence for long, such as maize in Bihar and pulses in UP. This situation would worsen if there showers continue as before over the next four-odd days in MP, parts of UP and Bihar.
"Some rain might continue in the next three-four days, after which the marked low pressure area will gradually move forward," said Mahesh Palawat, chief meteorologist at private weather forecasting agency Skymet.
India Meteorological Department, the government agency, has predicted rain over Jharkhand, north Chhattisgarh, east MP and east UP, east Rajasthan, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and north Odisha in the next few days.
Here's a state overview:
Madhya Pradesh: State officials plan a survey of crop loss in the districts of Panna, Satna and Rewa, and some parts of Sagar, which have had heavy rain over recent days.
"A detailed report would be sent to the central government," a senior official said. It appeared, he said, that the soybean crop in parts of Bhopal, Satna and Rewa divisions had been damaged due to waterlogging. MP produces a little over half of the country's soybean. Farmers normally begin its sowing in mid-June, after monsoon arrival.
Of the state's 51 districts, 18 have got normal rain and three only scanty rain, as of Saturday. The others have got 20 per cent more than the usual. Trade sources, however, discount any big damage to the crop; the Malwa-Nimar region has been largely unaffected by flooding.
Bihar: Relentless rain and a rise in the Gandak, Mahananda, Koshi, Sone and Ganga rivers have caused flooding in several areas, including localities surrounding the capital, Patna. Preliminary reports show crops much affected in the Seemanchal region, also due to unscheduled water release from Nepal.
In that region, maize is the biggest crop and had till last week in the state been sown on 430,000 hectares, against 425,000 ha in the same period last year.
"We are still calculating the impact of the flooding," agriculture commissioner Vijoy Prakash told this newspaper. He said the district administrations had been told to send the data on damage speedily. "It seems there has been some damage to the maize crop in the riverside and diara (small islets in rivers) areas. And, some damage to vegetable production. We will distribute the replacement crop (seeds) as soon as water recedes," he added.
He said as flooding had been so far restricted to riverside localities, not much impact was seen on the standing paddy, pulses and sugarcane crop. "We don't think there will be any impact on any other crop other than maize, and not too much there."
Uttar Pradesh: The Ganga, Yamuna, Ghagra and their tributaries are in spate, flooding hundreds of villages across Bundelkhand and several eastern and central districts. The worst hit districts are Varanasi, Allahabad, Ballia, Banda, Chitrakoot, Mahoba, Fatehpur, Hamirpur, Kanpur, Hardoi, Kannauj, Gonda, Balrampur and Lakhimpur.
In the current kharif season, the government is targeting 9.41 million hectares, of which paddy is almost 90 per cent. "Standing crops in the low-lying areas would be worst hit if inundation sustains for more than a week," R B Singh of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences told this newspaper. He said at present the standing paddy crop is not in the grain-forming stage. Therefore, not much damage.
However, flooding might damage other crops -- millets, pulses and so forth. "If the inundation continues for more than a week, almost half would be destroyed," he warned.
(Inputs from Virender Singh Rawat in Lucknow, Shashikant Trivedi in Bhopal, Satyavrat Mishra in Patna and Sanjeeb Mukherjee in Delhi)
