MUMBAI -- India's Uttar Pradesh state, a key rice- and sugar cane-growing state, has declared drought in 47 districts, the state's agriculture minister said Monday.
Chaudhary Laxmi Narayan told Dow Jones Newswires the "poor" monsoon rains have resulted in overall sowing in the state falling to 30% of the level reached last year at the same time.
The state government will provide 300 million rupees ($6.2 million) to farmers in the form of fresh seeds as part of a relief package, he added.
Annual monsoon rains in the state, which are critical for summer-sown crops, were 58% below normal between June 1 and July 22.
The states of Jharkhand, Assam, Nagaland have already declared partial drought, while Manipur has declared drought in the entire state.
The Meteorological Department has forecast rainfall in the June-September wet season at 93% of the long-term average, which isn't an unusually large deviation. But the distribution so far has been extremely uneven, with some areas flooded while others have been parched.
"The worst-hit is the rice crop and production is likely to fall as the sowing is down by 50%," Mr. Narayan said.
India's third-largest rice producer produced an estimated 12.3 million metric tons in the crop year ended June.
"If the situation continues like this, sugar production may come down to 4 million tons or below," said C.B. Patodia, president of U.P. Sugar Mills Association.
Uttar Pradesh, India's second-largest sugar producing state, was earlier expected to produce around 4.5 million tons in the crop year ending September.
India's northern regions are likely to get more rain in the next three-four days, raising hopes for lower damage to summer-sown crops after a prolonged spell of scanty showers, a senior official with the Meteorological Department said.