September deluge stalls kharif harvesting, damages crops

Excessive rains this month have stalled harvests of main kharif crops like maize, paddy and soyabean and affected their quality, which will likely reduce the returns for farmers, said traders and experts. “The impact of this untimely rain will not be good for the standing crop. The quality will go down and the colour will change. The marketing edge will be lost,” said agriculture expert Devinder Sharma. It can also delay sowing for the next season, especially of wheat and potato.

Rajasthan’s Kota and Jhalawar districts, known for their maize crop, have seen crop damage of 18-19%, said Rajiv Yadav, senior vice president at commodities research firm Origo Commodities. The state’s paddy crop has suffered a loss of 6%. For soyabean, the crop damage is 15%.

In Madhya Pradesh, compromised quality would weigh on prices, said experts. “Since harvest of soyabeans is in progress in Madhya Pradesh, the quality will suffer hugely with oil content reducing and moisture content increasing,” said Rahul Chauhan, director of IGrain India, an agricultural research company.

Uttar Pradesh, a state which witnessed extremely deficient rains during June-September monsoons, has been getting heavy rains in October. There is waterlogging in fields, flattening standing paddy and potato plants. Haryana has issued orders for a special inspection as the standing paddy crop in hundreds of acres have been damaged last week.