Ill-timed rain damages crops in 1.8 crore hectares across 13 states

Recent rains and hailstorms in different parts of the country has damaged rabi crops in about 1.81 crore hectares of land across 13 states between February 28March 16, with UP and Rajasthan facing the brunt. The affected cultivable land is huge if one looks at the total cultivable area (six crore hectares) in the current rabi season. The wheat crop faced the maximum damage due to unseasonal rains. The extent of the loss of rabi crop was communicated to finance minister Arun Jaitley by agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh in a meeting on Tuesday. Officials in the agriculture ministry said the loss to wheat crop was estimated in about 1.2 crore hectares with maximum impact in UP (75 lakh hectares) and Rajasthan (17 lakh hectares). Besides wheat, pulses have been hit in 20 lakh hectares, mustard in 25 lakh hectares, vegetable in 2.3 lakh hectares, cumin seed in 2.5 lakh hectares, isabgol in 1.29 lakh hectares and coriander in 1.83 lakh hectares. According to the ministry’s initial report, the maximum rabi crop damage was reported in UP (97.29 lakh hectares) followed by Rajasthan (45.5 lakh hectares), Haryana (19.20 lakh hectares), MP (5.7 lakh hectares), Maharashtra (3.95 lakh hectares), J&K (3.91 lakh hectares), Punjab (3.5 lakh hectares), Himachal (1.5 lakh hectares).Some damage has also been reported in Bengal, Andhra, Telangana and Uttarakhand. The Centre, meanwhile, approved Rs 2,000 crore as relief for areas affected by last year’s drought in Maharashtra -four times the amount sanctioned in 2013.