Rice production to be lower than estimated

The deluge in parts of Odisha, resulting from cyclone Phailin, and hailstorms in Punjab and Haryana recently are expected to hit rice production.

Earlier, the fourth revised estimate (2013-14) of the ministry of agriculture had pegged the rice crop at 92.3 million tonnes (mt). Now, this seems a distant dream.

In 2012-13, Odisha contributed about 8.5 mt. Of the kharif acreage of 3.6 million hectares this year, 0.5 million hectares has been affected in Odisha. This year, production in the state might fall to one mt, said Trilochan Mohapatra, director of Rice Research Institute, Cuttak. He added the earlier estimate of 107 mt (kharif and rabi combined) might not be met, as adverse weather conditions had effected the crop in Odisha, western Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana.

Satnam Arora, joint managing director of Satnam Overseas Ltd (Kohinoor Rice), said the rice crop in Punjab and Haryana might record a loss of two-four per cent. Ashwani Arora, director of L T Overseas Ltd, said the crop had been hit by the delay in rains. He added production might be up to four per cent lower than estimated.

In the 2012-13 kharif season, Punjab produced 16 mt of rice, while the output in Haryana srood at about eight mt.

The Rice Research Institute had sent various teams to affected areas in different states and a clear picture on production would emerge in about a week, Mohapatra said. In India, the kharif season accounts for 88 per cent of the total rice production. As a result, damage to the kharif crop might have a significant impact on the overall production, Mohapatra said.

Farmers said in Odisha, floods, more than the cyclone, had damaged the crop. But though the pre-mature and mature crop had been damaged, the early-stage crop could still be saved. While farmers might get some compensation from the government, it was too early to decide a course of action, said a farmer.