September 26, 2008

Floods damage 450,000 hectares of India's crop land

Floods and late rains in India have affected 450,000 hectares of crop land in three states during the summer crop sowing season, the federal agricultural secretary said Thursday (September 25).

T. Nanda Kumar said India was likely to expand the area under winter-sown crops by 3 million hectares, of which 1 million hectares would be under wheat and the rest under oilseeds and pulses.

The winter crop area last year totalled 50.3 million hectares.

India's summer crop is sown in June and harvested in October, while planting of the winter-sown crop will begin next month.