Drought forces Indis to turn to imports

       The drought situation in India was extraordinary and the government would import items in short supply, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said yesterday.
       "The decision is already there that whichever commodity will be in short supply, to maintain demand-supply mechanism, we will go for imports,"Mukherjee said while addressing a meeting of state agriculture ministers in the Indian capital.
       "We have developed a certain expertise to handle drought. We will not publicise the government's plans to import food,"he said."The moment news is spread that India is going for big imports, the market prices are jacked up."
       News of the drought in India had already pushed up sugar prices in the international market. India is the world's second largest sugarcane producer after Brazil.
       Mukherjee also said the drought could impact the economy and inflation."Drought does not affect only crop pro-duction it has a cascading effect."
       India announced on Wednesday that 246 of its 626 administrative districts were drought-hit after insufficient monsoon rainfall.
       Many of these districts are among the top rice-producing regions in the country."The drought situation is difficult. It is an extraordinary situation,"Mukherjee said.
       It was critical to save standing crops and provide alternative crops to farmers who have lost their crops, federal Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said at the meeting.
       Sowing of the winter crop should be done early as there had been some late monsoon showers, he told the state agriculture ministers.
       "The situation is grim. Not just for crop sowing and crop health but also for sustaining animal health, providing drinking water, livelihood and food, particularly for the small and marginal farmers and landless labourers," Pawar said.
       More than 700 million people in India depend on agriculture and allied activities for their livelihood.
       Farming in India is heavily dependent on the seasonal monsoon rainfall which comes from June to September. It is estimated only 30% of India's farmland has access to irrigation.
       The month of September was critical,Ajit Tyagi, director general of India's Meteorological Department, said.
       A revival of the monsoon over the past week could be promising for the winter crop, although it was too late for the summer crop, Tyagi added.
       Mukherjee said India had started the drought year with good food grain buffer stocks.
       According to the government's estimate, India has enough buffer stocks to cover any shortage for a period of 13 months.
       Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, Assam and Manipur are the states worst affected by the current drought.