April 8, 2008

Heavy rains wreck havoc on wheat crop in northern India

Around 100,000 hectares of wheat acreage may have been damaged in India's key growing province of Haryana after recent rains and hailstorms, the Press Trust of India reported Monday, quoting the province's chief minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

"The adverse weather conditions will affect the specifications of wheat for procurement," Hooda told reporters after a meeting with the federal farm minister, Sharad Pawar, in the northern city of Chandigarh.

He said the exact loss was being assessed and a special revenue assessment will be ordered, the PTI said.

Earlier, India' farm secretary, P.K. Mishra, told reporters in New Delhi that the government's 2008 wheat production estimate remains unchanged at 74.81 million tonnes despite the recent rains, though the exact amount of damage is still being assessed.

Heavy rains and hailstorms lashed several parts of northern India over the weekend, which produces more than 90 percent of the country's annual wheat output.