"Due to poor rainfall till August 13, it is expected that crop production will suffer 40 per cent losses. But, the scenario is expected to change due to rainfall in the past few days," Chief Secretary Atul Kumar Gupta said at a meeting with a six-member Central team.
The Central team is in Lucknow to review the drought situation in the state, where 58 districts have been declared drought-hit.
Gupta informed the team that Kharif crop could be sown only in 68.2 per cent area and gave department-wise account of state's demand of Rs 8939.67 crore (Rs 89.39 billion) as drought package from the Centre.