Prices of foodgrain, particularly of rice, are likely to rise sharply across India and especially in Andhra Pradesh. The state, a major producer of paddy in the country, is going to witness a 35 per cent fall in the output during the current kharif season.
According to state agriculture minister N Raghuveera Reddy, the paddy output will not be more than 5.5 million tonnes during this kharif. This is nearly 2.9 million tonnes less than the state’s 2008 kharif output of 8.38 million tonnes. Helped by bountiful rainfall since 2005, Andhra Pradesh has emerged as the third largest producer of foodgrain in the country. Hence, the steep fall in the state’s foodgrain production could as well affect food prices across the country.
A severe drought, considered to be the worst in 50 years, accompanied by devastating floods in the Krishna river basin has shattered Andhra’s agricultural operations. The state had received deficit rainfall during the south-west monsoon and 981 of the total 1,128 mandals have been declared drought-hit. The crop area has declined 32 per cent to 5.3 million hectares compared with the kharif season’s normal sown area of 7.9 million hectares. Even while the government started implementing drought-relief measures, unprecedented floods in the Krishna river basin last week submerged the standing crops in Kurnool, Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda, Krishna and Guntur districts. Crops in the districts of Rangareddy, Srikakulam and Kadapa have also been damaged in the torrential rain.
Reddy said that floods had damaged standing crops in 241,000 hectares resulting in a production loss of 900,000 tonnes of foodgrain valued at Rs 860 crore. The crops damaged include rice, cotton, groundnut, sunflower, castor and pulses. In addition, horticulture crops including banana, chilli and vegetables were also damaged.
In the case of vegetables, the impact of floods was immediately felt in the state capital. The prices of many vegetables have doubled. Tomato, which was sold at about Rs 10 a kg is now priced at Rs 20. The price of beans has shot up from Rs 30 to Rs 60 a kg, while lady’s finger and onions witnessed a moderate rise by Rs 4 and Rs 2 a kg.
The price of fine quality rice in the state capital has already shot up by 40 per cent to Rs 35 a kg from around Rs 25 a kg during this time last year. Similarly, the price of pigeon pea (tur dal) has gone up from Rs 56 last year to Rs 90 a kg at present. With 60,000 acres of pigeon pea damaged in Guntur district itself, a further rise in price is not ruled out.
The only solace for the state from the recent floods is that water in all its major reservoirs across the Krishna river is up to the full storage level. This is likely to give a boost to agricultural operations during the ensuing rabi season and to a certain extent offset the loss in production incurred during the kharif season.
