Wheat not impacted by warm winter

Last week, a senior ministry official had said wheat production in India was likely to fall below 90 million tonnes for another year in a row in FY16

The warmish winter in the north is not yet seen as having an adverse impact on the final wheat harvest but the next few days would be important, said Union agriculture secretary Siraj Hussain.

The Centre is monitoring the situation and is hopeful that cold weather would reappear, as the latest report of the India Meteorological Department indicates.

Sowing of wheat, the main rabi (winter) crop, has been lagging due to lack of soil moisture, following consecutive drought years.

Till Friday, rabi crops had been sown on 56.49 million hectares (mha), around 1.8 mha less than this time last year. Mainly due to less moisture in parts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The lag is primarily in wheat and mustard. Wheat had been sown on 28.17 mha till Friday, 5.9 per cent less than the area covered during the same period last year. Mustard was planted on 6.27 mha, about 3.2 per cent less.

However, some weather experts said even if the weather turns colder in the next few says, this might not last for more than a few days. “Another western disturbance will be affecting North India by Monday. This will again increase both the maximum and minimum temperatures across the region,” said private weather forecasting agency Skymet.  

More than the area covered, said officials, it was the condition of the standing crop which was worrisome. A sudden rise in temperature in the flowering stage could impact the final harvest.

“Unfortunately, there were unseasonal and untimely rains in the past two-three seasons. Now, we are facing higher than normal temperature. There is no need to panic. We hope in the next two to three days, the temperature will come down,” Hussain told reporters here on Friday. “The current temperature is above the average normal level...technical advisories suggest no adverse impact so far on rabi wheat.”

Radha Mohan Singh, the minister, said drought and flood-resistant seed varieties had been issued.

Last week, a senior ministry official had said wheat production in India, the world's second largest producer, was likely to fall below 90 million tonnes for another year in a row in 2015-16, due to an unusually dry and warm winter. Output had declined to 88.95 mt in 2014-15, due to a poor monsoon and unseasonal rain in February-March, as against a record 95.85 mt the previous year.