India wheat crop safe; hailstorms in limited area

 

 

 

"In and around Delhi, there were mild hailstorms," said A.K. Singh, deputy director general of Indian Council of Agricultural Research.

 

He said if the hailstorms do not spread to the main northern producing belts of Punjab and Haryana, there would be no impact on the wheat crop.

 

"The standing crop would benefit if it rains now," the scientist said.

 

Indian federal government officials expect wheat output in 2009 to remain around last year's level of 78.4 million tonnes, but a top scientist warned last week the output could fall below that level unless there was a spell of rain in February to bring down temperatures.

 

Hailstorms have also sometimes in previous years damaged the crop just before harvest. Wheat is sown in October and November and the harvest starts in March.

 

India's Meteorological Department issued a warning on Tuesday that hailstorms or thundershowers were likely over northern wheat producing states.

 

There were no hailstorms, but it rained Tuesday night in the northern state of Haryana, a wheat-producing region, said a farmer based in the state's Karnal district.

 

"We don't have any reports of hailstorms from producing regions," said Veena Sharma, secretary of the Roller Flour Millers Federation of India.

 

Farmers have planted wheat, India's main winter-sown food grain crop, over 27.6 million hectares this year, marginally higher than 27.4 million hectares the previous year.