January 10, 2012

India's wheat crop remain unaffected by bad weather

Over the weekend, hailstorms and heavy rains in Punjab, India's northern breadbasket state, haven't affected the winter-sown wheat crop, a senior state agriculture department official said Monday (Jan 9).

"The crop is fine. Rather, the weather conditions may help as the rain has cleared cloudy and overcast conditions," said Punjab's agriculture director, Mangal Singh Sandhu.

Foggy weather over Punjab and Haryana states was causing concern as poor light over a period of about a month could reduce absorption of nutrients and affect plant growth.

India is betting on a repeat of last year's record wheat crop of around 86 million tonnes to shore up government stocks, ahead of a planned nationwide food security programme.

Any drop in wheat output could affect the government's plans as wheat and rice are the two main grain staples that will be distributed under the programme, which targets the poor and malnourished.

Sandhu said the area under wheat in Punjab this year is about 10,000 hectares less than last year's 3.51 million hectares.

Sowing of wheat usually starts end-October and the crop is harvested from end-March or early April.