New Delhi, Sept. 12 -- Floods in Punjab have devastated standing kharif (summer) crops and are likely to disrupt the upcoming rabi sowing season as well, with fertile topsoil washed away from fields.

More than 1.92 lakh hectares of standing crops have been damaged, with the worst-affected districts being Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Fazilka, Patiala, Kapurthala and Firozpur, according to the Punjab government's latest data. The primary crops affected by the floods are paddy, including basmati that dominates Punjab's kharif crop season, followed by cotton and horticulture crops.

The total cultivable land in the state is 42.4 lakh hectares. Of this, 35.80 lakh hectares are under crops such as foodgrains, cereals, sugarcane and cotton, and the rem...