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NEWS ALERTS | Farmers' prospect destroyed by erratic rains
Farmers' prospect destroyed by erratic rains

Farmers' prospect destroyed by erratic rains

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published Published on Mar 19, 2016   modified Modified on May 7, 2019

Like 2015, this year too unseasonal rainfall and hailstorm have taken the farmers by surprise. Recent media reports suggest that extreme weather event has damaged rabi crops in a number of states from north India.

The Weekly Weather Report prepared for the week spanning 10-16 March, 2016, which was issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), shows that excessive rainfall was observed in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka & Kerala (please click here to access).  

Experts feel that mild showers are good for the standing wheat crop in north and central India, but if it is accompanied by heavy hailstorm or strong winds, similar to what had happened in 2015, it might damage crops (including standing mustard and coriander crops). In the meanwhile, damage to crops have already been reported (by various news media) from states like Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

The IMD weekly report for the period 10-16 March, 2016 informs us that hailstorm was reported at Uttarakhand, western Madhya Pradesh, eastern Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

As per the same IMD report, rainfall was excess/normal in 24, deficient/scanty in 10 and no rain in 2 out of 36 meteorological sub-divisions during the period 1-16 March, 2016. However, rainfall was excess/normal in 19, deficient/scanty in 11 and no rain in 6 out of 36 meteorological sub-divisions during the period 10-16 March, 2016.

The second advance estimates by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare shows that wheat production in 2015-16 would be 7.3 million tonnes more than last year’s (86.53 million tonnes in 2014-15 but 93.82 million tonnes in 2015-16) (please click here to access).

As per the Arthapedia, www.arthapedia.in [a portal for facilitating understanding of the Indian Economy and its governance by explaining the concepts used in the economic policy domain in India, which is managed by the officers of Indian Economic Service (IES)], in an agricultural year (July-June), the Directorate of Economics & Statistics (DES), Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture releases four advance estimates, followed by the final estimates of production of major agricultural crops in the country.

The Arthapedia informs us that the first advance estimates are released in September when kharif sowing is generally over, and covers only kharif crops. The second advance estimates are released in February next year when rabi sowing is over. The 2nd estimates covering kharif as well as rabi crops take into account firmed up figures on kharif area coverage along with available data on crop cutting experiments for yield assessment of kharif crops and tentative figures on area coverage of rabi crops.

Therefore, one can say that the 2nd advance estimates of foodgrain production (in agriculture year 2015-16) by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, which was released on 15 February, 2016, did not taken into account the damage done to standing rabi crops by untimely rainfall and hailstorm that occurred in March, 2016. Once the third advance estimates are released in April-May this year, followed by the fourth advance estimates in July-August, one can come to know about the extent of damage done to the standing crops by erratic rains and hailstorm.

A recent report prepared by the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) for the Ministry of Agriculture estimated that wheat production in 2015-16 would be 85 million tonnes i.e. 1.5 million tonnes lower than the final estimate of 2014-15. The NCAER report says that the overall prospects of India’s agriculture sector is unlikely to improve much in 2016 as compared to the previous year (please click here to read).

As per the Agricultural Ministry's press release dated 28 April, 2015, it was states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Bihar, which got mostly affected by unexpected rain and hailstorm that began since the last week of February, 2015. Almost 50 percent of total area affected by unseasonal rainfall and hailstorms in 2015 fell within Uttar Pradesh.
 
It remains to be seen how far the newly launched Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana is able to protect farmers this year from the vagaries of nature.  
 
 
References:

Second Advance estimate of foodgrain prodution for agriculture year 2015-16 (released on 15 February, 2016), Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers welfare, Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture, please click here to access

Cropping seasons of India- Kharif & Rabi, Arthapedia by IES officers, please click here to access
 
Vegetable prices rise up to 58% -Dilip Kumar Jha, Business Standard, 17 March, 2016, please click here to access

Unseasonal rains, hail damage rabi crops in key food-bowl states -Chetan Chauhan, Hindustan Times, 15 March, 2016, please click here to access
 
Crops damaged in 6 states due to unseasonal rains -Sayantan Bera, Livemint.com, 15 March, 2016, please click here to access
 
Unseasonal rainfall flattens wheat crop in Rains, hailstorms unlikely to have major impact on rabi crops: Agriculture Ministry -Sandip Das, The Financial Express, 14 March, 2016, please click here to access

Rain flattens crops in north India, Business Standard, 13 March, 2016, please click here to access

Impending rains pose a risk to rabi harvest -Nikita Mehta & Sayantan Bera, Livemint.com, 10 March, 2016, please click here to access

Ill-timed rain deepens farmers' distress, Business Standard, 7 March, 2016, please click here to access

Budget expectations for rural sector, please click here to access

Deepening agrarian crisis endangers food security, please click here to access
 
 
Image Courtesy: Himanshu Joshi


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