An Indian government assessment has identified 142 agricultural districts as highly vulnerable to yield losses driven by El Niño weather patterns.
The report highlights that 77 paddy-growing and 65 maize-growing districts face the risk of at least a 10% drop in output due to drought-bearing conditions.
Additionally, 36 districts each cultivating sorghum and millet are flagged as particularly susceptible to rainfall shocks associated with the phenomenon.
The findings underscore a deepening structural challenge for India’s agricultural sector, which is already grappling with the prospect of minimal sugar export surpluses for the next three seasons.
The prolonged absence from global sugar markets, driven by domestic supply constraints, now compounds with the threat of reduced staple crop yields.
This dual pressure on food supply chains raises concerns about domestic price stability and the potential for imported inflation to feed through to consumer baskets.