Ludhiana, Sept. 14 -- The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) is considering a plan to provide flood-affected farmers with 'highly subsidised' wheat seeds ahead of the rabi season.

A senior university official, on condition of anonymity, said that the varsity had assessed that around 2 lakh hectares (4.90 lakh acres) of farmland was directly affected by floods, not only destroying standing paddy crops but also the wheat seeds stored by the farmers.

"The paddy crop is already affected by the floods. The seeds that the farmers had prepared from the last wheat crop were also destroyed as their homes were inundated. This will also affect the next crop and hit the state's wheat production capacity," said PAU vice-chancellor Satbir Singh Gos...