India warns scanty rains to hit rice crop, bans food exports
Sunday, 26 July 2009
NEW DELHI, July 25 (AFP): India warned yesterday that patchy monsoon rains were threatening its lifeline rice crop and said it would ban food exports as part of a plan to prevent any crisis.
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar told parliament the June- September monsoon had been "deficient" across India, delaying sowing and planting in key agricultural states such as Punjab and Haryana.
"The monsoon this year has been weak and erratic in its progress, resulting in late sowing of (paddy) crops," Pawar said during a debate on agricultural output.
The minister said rainfall nationwide was down 19 percent on the previous year with a shortfall of 38 percent in the northwest and 43 percent in the northeast.
"Rice area and productivity may be adversely impacted which could be compensated to some extent by cultivating oilseeds, pulses and cereals," he said, noting the alternative sowing project was part of the emergency plan.
"The (present) coverage under paddy is 115,000 hectares (280,000 acres), compared to 145,000 hectares last year," he said, adding that the shortfall had been mainly reported from four states.
Nearly two-thirds of India's 1.1 billion population still depend on agriculture for their livelihood.
The monsoon is crucial because 60 percent of India's 140 million cultivable hectares is rain-dependent while the rest is irrigated.
The farm sector accounts for nearly 16 percent of India's gross domestic product.
Despite subsidies to farmers, India's agriculture sector expanded only 1.6 percent in the financial year ended March 31, compared to growth of around 4.5 percent in recent years.
Pawar also announced New Delhi would ban scheduled exports of non- premium varieties of rice as well as wheat as part of its contingency plans but insisted national food stocks were adequate to last 13 more months.
"The export of non-Basmati rice and wheat... would be completely banned. We are going to stop it," Pawar said.
India reversed on July 3 a decision to export 900,000 tonnes of wheat and held it instead in the national reserves.
The announcement came a day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the second time in a month reviewed the damage from the poor rainfall.
Pawar conceded he was concerned over runaway prices of food products, mainly cereals.
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar told parliament the June- September monsoon had been "deficient" across India, delaying sowing and planting in key agricultural states such as Punjab and Haryana.
"The monsoon this year has been weak and erratic in its progress, resulting in late sowing of (paddy) crops," Pawar said during a debate on agricultural output.
The minister said rainfall nationwide was down 19 percent on the previous year with a shortfall of 38 percent in the northwest and 43 percent in the northeast.
"Rice area and productivity may be adversely impacted which could be compensated to some extent by cultivating oilseeds, pulses and cereals," he said, noting the alternative sowing project was part of the emergency plan.
"The (present) coverage under paddy is 115,000 hectares (280,000 acres), compared to 145,000 hectares last year," he said, adding that the shortfall had been mainly reported from four states.
Nearly two-thirds of India's 1.1 billion population still depend on agriculture for their livelihood.
The monsoon is crucial because 60 percent of India's 140 million cultivable hectares is rain-dependent while the rest is irrigated.
The farm sector accounts for nearly 16 percent of India's gross domestic product.
Despite subsidies to farmers, India's agriculture sector expanded only 1.6 percent in the financial year ended March 31, compared to growth of around 4.5 percent in recent years.
Pawar also announced New Delhi would ban scheduled exports of non- premium varieties of rice as well as wheat as part of its contingency plans but insisted national food stocks were adequate to last 13 more months.
"The export of non-Basmati rice and wheat... would be completely banned. We are going to stop it," Pawar said.
India reversed on July 3 a decision to export 900,000 tonnes of wheat and held it instead in the national reserves.
The announcement came a day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the second time in a month reviewed the damage from the poor rainfall.
Pawar conceded he was concerned over runaway prices of food products, mainly cereals.