Unseasonal rains damage 249,000 hectares of India’s rabi crops, wheat hardest hit
Unseasonal rain and hail have damaged about 249,000 hectares of rabi crops in India. Wheat has been hit hardest, while the government is pairing crop-loss assessment with fertilizer and kharif-preparation measures.
India’s agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said unseasonal rain and hail have damaged standing rabi crops across 2.49 lakh hectares, or roughly 249,000 hectares. Wheat has taken the biggest hit so far, while horticulture crops such as mango and litchi have also suffered losses. Damage assessment is still underway and three departments are involved in the survey work.
Chouhan spoke to reporters ahead of the launch of the Unnat Krishi Mela in Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh. He said the losses recorded up to April 8 already span multiple crops and states, and that the central government is coordinating with state administrations. He added that on April 5 he had directed officials to review losses in affected states and had also consulted agriculture ministers from those regions.
The India Meteorological Department said heavy rain fell between April 2 and April 8 in the northeast, central, southern and northwestern parts of the country. The affected areas included Arunachal Pradesh, sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Odisha, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir. Hailstorms were also reported across Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Telangana and several other states.
IMD is forecasting more rain from April 9 to April 15 because of western disturbances over Jammu and Kashmir, cyclonic circulations over Uttar Pradesh, Bangladesh, Assam and Odisha, and related troughs. Against that backdrop, the government is not only dealing with immediate crop losses but also preparing for kharif sowing from June. Chouhan said authorities are trying to ensure smooth nutrient supply so farmers are less exposed to price swings linked to tensions in West Asia.
For Kharif 2026, the nutrient-based subsidy for phosphatic and potassic fertilizers has been raised to Rs 41,534 crore. The government is also trying to diversify import sources and is running a pilot in Haryana and Madhya Pradesh that issues fertilizer against AgriStack-linked farmer identity cards to limit diversion to industrial use. Chouhan said 9.29 crore Farmers’ IDs have already been created against a target of 13 crore. He also pointed to state-specific agricultural roadmaps, five zonal conferences and an expansion of Unnat Krishi Melas as part of a wider push to raise productivity and farm incomes.