GS Ram, economic and statistical advisor to the union agriculture ministry is also of the view that the damage caused by the recent floods is likely to be mitigated by better prospects for rabi.

Both Srivastava and Ram, however, could not quantify the damages done to specific crops due to the devastations.

But the damage was evident from the recent revisions in estimates of kharif production as against the earlier estimates. The recent estimates have projected kharif foodgrains at 101.03 million tonne as against the earlier estimate of 107.10 million tonne. Ram is of the opinion that once the floodwater recedes, the land under immersion will be rendered fertile. This willincrease the prospects for rabi crops in the area.

Srivastava, who monitors and presides over the weekly crop weather watch group of the union agriculture ministry, while speaking to The Financial Express stated that the area coverage under kharif crop has been better than that of the previous year, boosting the hope that the current kharif production will be good despite the damages caused by calamities.

The total kharif oilseeds output is likely to decline to 14.26 million tonne as against the earlier estimate of 15.9 million tonne.

Sugarcane output is likely to be same as earlier estimate of 280.57 million tonne. Cotton has shown a marginal decline whilst jute and mesta has shown a marginal increase.

As per recent information available with the agriculture ministry, about 34.59 lakh hectare of cropped area has been affected by heavy rains, landslides, floods and cyclone.

In Arunachal Pradesh, the damage to agricultural and horticultural crops is estimated at Rs 15.1732 crore out of the totaldamage of Rs 148.3477 crore caused to the state. The damage caused to animal husbandry and vetinary is estimated at Rs 0.52 crore, the damage to irrigation and flood control measures is Rs 66.6969 crore and to fisheries, Rs 4.3935 crore.

Like in Arunachal Pradesh, in Assam the damage was caused by landslides and floods. In north Bihar, only floods played the havoc whilst in Gujarat, cyclone, heavy rains and floods caused the total damage in the state.In Kerala, heavy rains and floods damaged crops in the initial period of the monsoon in June, but the farmers again resorted to cultivation after the flood waters receded. Again in mid-July, landslides occurred in the state. In MP, the damage was due to floods and in Maharashtra, the damage was due to lightening and cyclone.

In Meghalaya, Orissa and Punjab, floods caused the damage. In Rajasthan, the damage was due to cyclone.

In Sikkim, landslides and heavy rains caused the damage whilst in Tripura the damage was due to floods.

In eastern UP and WestBengal, heavy rains, landslides and floods caused heavy damage.

Srivastava said that in the current kharif season, the area coverage under rice has increased to 33.75 million hectare from 33.40 million hectare in the previous year's kharif. Similarly, the area coverage under kharif oilseeds has increased to 15.5 million hectare in the current season over the previous kharif level at 14.3 million hectare.

The area coverage under groundnut has increased to 6 million hectare from 5.55 million hectare in the previous kharif. The area coverage under soyabean has increased to 6.4 million hectare from 5.8 million hectare in the previous kharif.

The area coverage under sugarcane has increased to 4.1 million hectare from 3.85 million hectare in previous kharif. The area coverage under cotton has also increased to 8.7 million hectare from 8.1 million hectare in the previous kharif despite the decline in area coverage in Punjab by 1.27 lakh hectare. In Punjab some damage to cotton crop is reported but the cottoncrop in Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan has been better.Srivastava said that the area coverage under kharif coarse cereals is almost the same at 20.60 million hectare as compared to 20.62 million hectare in the previous kharif. However, the area coverage under pulses in the current kharif season has shown a marginal decline being at 9.2 million hectare as against 9.4 million hectare in the previous kharif.

Srivastava stated that apart from heavy rains causing damage to the kharif crops, it is likely to benefit the prospects of rabi crops. The live storage in 63 major reservoirs in the country has improved in the last one month due to good rains in the later half of the monsoon.

The total live storage in 63 major reservoirs in the country has increased to 92.38 TM Cum by September 18 from 84.70 TM Cum in the previous week. This is sufficient to irrigate 1,54,09,000 hectare of cultivable command areas (CCA) of the country and generate 8555 MW of hydel power.

GS Ram also stated that thelate recession of monsoon will have a cooling effect which is conducive to the better prospects of the rabi crops.