The recent floods in Bihar that claimed more than 50 lives to date, will have an adverse impact on the standing rice crop in the state. However, a clearer picture will only emerge in the next seven to ten days when local authorities assess the impact of the floods, a senior official from the Union agiculture ministry, said. ?The administration?s first priority is to provide relief and rehabilitation to the victims, but damage to crops in flood-hit districts cannot be ruled out,? PK Mishra, Union agriculture secretary, told FE.
Bihar mainly grows rice and maize during the kharif season, the sowing of which had started in June. A breach in an embankment on the Kosi River flooded millions of hectares of agricultural land in the districts of Supaul, Saharsa, Araria and Madhepura, making them the worst-hit in the state.
Though Mishra did not give any details on the quantum of damage caused by the floods, agency reports said that the country?s rice production could be limited to levels of 2007, due to floods not only in Bihar but also in Punjab and Haryana. India produced around 83 million tonne of rice during the kharif season last year, up from 80 million tonne a year-earlier. In total, the country produced around 97 million tonne of rice in the crop year that ended in June, up from 93 million tonne a year-earlier. On sowing of other crops during the ongoing kharif season, Mishra, who relinquishes his office at the end of August, said that barring a few coarse cereals, pulses and cash crops, the progress was satisfactory. ?We could expect a 2%-3% drop in kharif sowing in 2008 compared to 2007, but it will be still near the normal crop acreage,? he added.
As per latest government data, paddy has been planted over around 32.46 million hectare till August 22, up from 30.36 million hectare in 2007. Among other crops, the area under maize has dropped to 6.7 million hectare, down from 7.18 million hectare in 2007, while oilseeds were sown over around 16.87 million hectare till August 22, slightly up from 16.75 million hectare in 2007. Pulses have been sown in around 2.29 million hectare, down from 3.03 million a year earlier.