4L hectares crop damaged in State

4L hectares crop damaged in State

PUNE: With severe and moderate floods in various states across the country, Skymet, a private weather forecaster, has come up with a ‘Crop Damage Analysis Report’. 

The report assesses the states where the monsoon has left a trail of destruction, snuffing out lives and livelihood of millions. 

The states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Bihar bore the brunt of the severe floods. 

The remaining eight states which include Assam, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, were subjected to moderate floods.

GP Sharma, Vice President of Meteorology with Skymet, said that high impact events this year were the major reason for continuous rainfall.

“The increase in the frequency of high impact events can be attributed to climate change. Climate change was one of the major reasons. We saw a total of 14 monsoon systems had formed in the country during this season including two cyclones, one deep depression, one depression and 10 low-pressure areas. The frequency of the formation of these monsoon systems was greater in the second half of the season as it was evident from the above-average performance of the monsoon in August and September,” said Sharma.

He further added that the withdrawal of the monsoon was delayed by a month and when the delay began, the monsoon retreated in just eight days again creating history. “Post the monsoon season, India witnessed cyclone ‘Kyaar’ and cyclone ‘Maha’. In the coming few days, we will again witness two more extreme systems. The reason why these systems were forming was solely attributed to climate change,” said Sharma.

For Maharashtra, Rekha Mishra, one of the researchers for the report said the floods in Maharashtra damaged crops on over four lakh hectares in western and northern parts of the State.

“Sugarcane, cotton, rice, soybean, tur and groundnut were among the worst hit. The sowing was delayed in the state to mid-July. Heavy rains after sowing hindered germination. The rains in early August adversely affected the crop at the early vegetative state. Excess rains in the period between September 7 and September 13 caused severe damage to the crops by inducing flower shedding and impacting seed setting,” said Mishra.Gujarat

As per the report, excess rains in late September when the groundnut crop was matured and ready to be harvested has infused infection in the crop which has adversely affected both the yield and the quality in Gujarat.

“The excess rains have caused inundation in the fields and harvesting has been delayed by 15-20 days. Simultaneously, excess rains have induced flower shading in the late sown cotton crop and damaged the quality of the opened ball. Yield has been adversely impacted and the quality has also suffered. Around 30 to 40 pc of the groundnut crop and 20 to 30 pc of the cotton crop has been completely damaged,” stated the report.

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh was the biggest producer of soybeans in the country and this year, the soybean crop has been adversely affected.

“Almost 50 per cent of the crop has been damaged and the quality has also suffered. Since the beginning of September, soil moisture was close to 50 pc for most of the districts. This amount then escalated further in September depicting a widespread loss of crops,” stated the report. Even in moderate floods, states like Punjab suffered. Over six lakh hectares of agricultural land was wrecked by the floods stated the report by the Skymet.

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