Floods and Rains Cause Heavy Damage to Kharif Crops in Punjab and Rajasthan
10-Sep-2025 01:55 PM
New Delhi. Due to regular heavy rains during the month of August, fields got flooded and rivers started to overflow, due to which severe floods occurred, various Kharif crops in states like Punjab,
Haryana, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Telangana and Gujarat have suffered heavy damage, which includes paddy, cotton, millet, maize and pulses and oilseeds.
According to a leading market analyst firm, Kharif crops in Punjab and Rajasthan have suffered more damage due to floods and rains than in other states. Most of these two states got caught in the grip of severe floods, while crops were damaged in limited areas of other states.
This time in Punjab, 74 percent more rain than the normal average, led to the flooding of Kharif crops in many areas. About 42.40 lakh hectares of agriculture is done in the state, which includes paddy, maize, sugarcane and cotton etc. There is a possibility of heavy damage due to the flooding of crops.
The Punjab government has declared all 23 districts of the state as flood affected areas. Horticultural crops in Punjab have also been badly affected due to heavy rains and severe floods.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, paddy has been cultivated in about 30 lakh hectares in Punjab, out of which the initial estimate is that the crop has been completely destroyed in 1.50 lakh hectares.
According to official figures, during the marketing season of 2024-25, about 300 lakh tonnes of wheat and 540 lakh tonnes of rice were purchased for the central pool, in which the contribution of Punjab alone was 39 percent and 33 percent respectively.
This time also, a great production of paddy and rice was expected in Punjab, but due to the damage caused to the paddy crop due to the outbreak of floods and rains, rice production is likely to decrease.
On the other hand, heavy rains and severe floods in Ajmer, Tonk, Kota, Bundi, Jaipur and Dausa and some other districts of Rajasthan have caused heavy damage to the crops of jowar, bajra, soybean, groundnut, urad and moong-
moth. In August, Telangana also received 50 percent more rainfall than the normal average. The worst flood in Punjab in four decades has disrupted normal life.