India's wheat production could fall in 2019 from record output this year as lower moisture levels and higher temperatures in key growing regions are threatening yields of the winter-sown crop, farmers and analysts told Reuters.
A drop in output could lift local wheat prices and force the world's second-biggest producer to reduce import taxes on the grain to augment supply. Higher imports from India could support global wheat prices, while a local price increase could calm angry farmers in northern India.
"Instead of six acres, I planted wheat on three acres and chickpeas on the remaining area as tube wells are not pumping enough water," said Mukesh Mandloi, a farmer from Sehore in the central state of Madhya Pradesh.
Wheat needs more water than chickpeas, a pulse crop. Madhya Pradesh and the northern state of Uttar Pradesh are India's top two wheat-producing states, accounting for more than 45 percent of the country's total output. These two states received nearly a tenth less rainfall than normal during the June-September monsoon season.