India: No visible impact of heatwave on wheat crop: ITC

“There has not been any visible impact on wheat crops because of above normal temperature prevailing currently,” Ranjikant Rai, divisional chief executive of ITC agri-business told FE.

He said the weather conditions in the next 3-4 weeks will decide the final yield of the standing wheat crop this year.

Rai said that early sown varieties of wheat in Gujarat, Maharashtra and parts of Madhya Pradesh, which have started to arrive in the market, have not been impacted by the higher temperatures in February.

“Last year in March, the wheat crop was hit by both unusually high temperatures as well as wind. Application of irrigation would have lodged the standing crops,” he stated.

According to trade sources, ITC, in the current fiscal, has exported about one million tonne (MT) of wheat out of total grain exports of 4.6 MT so far. The government had banned wheat exports in May last year to improve domestic supplies.

Іndicating that there has not been any significant impact on rabi crops because of higher than normal temperature, Prasanna Rao, co-founder and CEO, Arya Collateral Warehousing Services, said “warehouse booking by traders and farmers for the forthcoming rabi crops has been normal so far”.

Rao said that any adverse impact of heat on crop would have impacted booking of warehouses by traders and farmers by now.

To counter higher temperatures, farmers should provide light irrigation for wheat and for horticulture crops, mulching is suggested which reduces the release of water vapors from the soil, Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director general, India India Meteorological Department had said.

However, private forecaster Skymet had said that persistent abnormal conditions would not be conducive for the farming sector as most of the rabi crops are at different stages of the cycle, some of them at crucial stages.

For the current crop year (2022-23), the government has estimated a record wheat harvest of 112.18 MT. Total area under wheat crop has risen by only 0.13 million hectare (MH) to 34.32 MH in current crop year from the year-ago period.

Harvesting of crops begins in Madhya Pradesh in the third week of March while in Punjab and Haryana, harvesting commences from April 1.

Despite anticipating a record output of wheat in the 2021-22 season (July-June), the standing crop was adversely impacted because of excessive heat wave in the middle of March last year, just prior to harvesting season, which resulted in shriveled grain.

The wheat production in 2021-22 crop year (July-June) had declined marginally to 107.7 MT from 109.6 MT in the previous year.

To replenish the stock, the FCI and state agencies, as per preliminary discussion, are aiming to procure at least 30 MT of wheat in the 2023-24 marketing season (April-June) so that sufficient quantity of grain is supplied to beneficiaries of National Food Security Act and creation of adequate buffer stock.

Inflation in wheat prices rose by a sharp 25.05% on year in January, pushing up retail food inflation to 5.94% from 4.19% reported in the previous month.

Tags: Market, high temperatures, weather conditions, exports, grain, wheat, crop