Pulse Report: Drawn-out monsoon affecting India’s crops

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Published: October 10, 2017

By Commodity News Service Canada

Oct. 10 (CNS Canada) – While late September rains caused
problems with India’s kharif harvest, it is likely to benefit
the upcoming rabi crop, said the country’s agricultural
secretary Shobhana K. Pattanayak.
Seeding of the rabi crop is expected to get underway in the
next two weeks. Total rainfall for the country is five per cent
below normal, but the extended monsoon in south India should
prove promising, Pattanayak said.
Wheat and chana (a type of chickpea) are key rabi crops.

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The kharif crop meanwhile, mainly corn, major pulses like
pigeon peas (dahl), and cotton, was being hit by ongoing harvest
rains as the monsoon dragged on later than usual.
While the overall precipitation was close to average, the
effects of the patchy aspect on which regions received rains
were still being evaluated.
Early estimates suggested the kharif crop output could be
about three per cent lower than last year, due to the late rain.

Stat Publishing reports French pea exports have reached
87,180 tonnes in August, up 331 per cent form 20,235 tonnes
shipped the previous month, and 19 per cent higher than the
73,280 tonnes shipped in August of 2016. India was the main
destination, taking 78,900 tonnes.

Grower Price Indications at Prairie Ag Hotwire for Oct. 6

show Saskatchewan prices for Laird lentils, No. 1 for delivery
to elevator at 38 to 44 cents per pound. No. 2 grades were 35-40
cents. Kubuli chickpeas, 10 mm, were 69-70 cents/lb. Eight mm
chickpeas were 63 to 64 cents/lb.

Marlene Boersch of Mercantile Consulting Venture, said she
expects Canadian lentil shipments to be sluggish in the New
Year, according to reports from Prairie Ag Hotwire. Current
prices are lower than what producers have become accustomed to
for the past couple years, due mainly to more competition from
lentil exports out of Russia and Eastern Europe. The record high
prices of the past few years encouraged more farmers to grow the
crop. India has also created a large stockpile of pulse crops,
Boersch told Prairie Ag Hotwire.

The United States Department of Agriculture plans to

provide US$48 million for research into specialty crops in 2018.
Money provided through the U.S. Farm Bill’s Specialty Crop
Research Initiative has provided more than US$400 million in
funding since 2014.

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