India is likely to receive monsoon rainfall between 94% and 106% of the long-term average in July, the most crucial month for planting rice and a host of other summer crops such as corn, cotton, soybean and sugarcane, the India Meteorological Department had said on Friday
Bountiful monsoon rains in July would ease concerns about the output of summer crops, promising higher incomes in the countryside where most Indians live. As almost half of the country’s farmland lacks irrigation, Indian farmers depend on the monsoon.
New Delhi:
India’s annual monsoon covered the entire country on Saturday, six days earlier than usual, the state-run weather office said, but rain totals are 5% below average so far this season.
The monsoon, critical for farm output and economic growth in the world’s second-most populous country, arrived on the coast of the southern Kerala state on May 29, a couple of days ahead of usual, yet after a promising start the rains gradually tapered off, clocking an 8% deficit in June.
‘Southwest monsoon has covered the entire country on Saturday, six days before the normal date of July 8,” the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Saturday.
Parts of western Rajasthan and north Gujarat, which were yet to receive monsoon rains, received their first showers on Friday.
However, the country has recorded a rainfall deficit of five per cent as on Saturday.
According to the IMD, all states falling in the monsoon core zone, barring Rajasthan, have received deficient rains till now.
The monsoon core zone comprises the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Odisha which are rain-fed agricultural regions.
Gujarat has received 37 per cent deficient rains than the long period average (LPA) till July 2, followed by Odisha (-34 per cent), Maharashtra (-25 per cent), Chhattisgarh (-25 per cent) and Madhya Pradesh (-15 per cent). Rajasthan has received 33 per cent excess rains than the LPA.
According to the forecast for July issued by the IMD, the rainfall average for the country as a whole is most likely to be normal at 94 per cent to 106 per cent of the LPA for the month. The LPA for July, based on the rainfall data from 1971-2020, is about 280.4 mm.
The weather office has forecast enhanced rainfall activity over Odisha, Gujarat, Konkan, and Goa during the next five days, over central India on July 4 and 5, and over northwest India on July 5 and 6.
A cyclonic circulation has formed over Bangladesh and there were also signs of formation of a low pressure area over north Odisha, which could help boost monsoon rains in the region and parts of central India.
Last month’s patchy rains slowed the planting of rice, an essential summer crop.
India’s rice farmers have planted 4.3 million hectares with the grain so far this season, down 27% from the same period last year.
The progress of the monsoon, which delivers about 70% of the country’s annual rainfall, is crucial for rice output and exports from India, the world’s biggest exporter of the grain.
Poor monsoon rains would further delay rice planting, stunt the crop and cut yields, leading to a drawdown in state inventories that would trigger export curbs to ensure sufficient supplies for the country’s 1.4 billion people.
India is likely to receive monsoon rainfall between 94% and 106% of the long-term average in July, the most crucial month for planting rice and a host of other summer crops such as corn, cotton, soybean and sugarcane, the India Meteorological Department had said on Friday.
The weather office defines average, or normal, rainfall as between 96% and 104% of a 50-year average of 87 cm (35 inches) for the entire four-month season beginning in June. Rain totals or between 90% and 96% are considered below average.
Bountiful monsoon rains in July would ease concerns about the output of summer crops, promising higher incomes in the countryside where most Indians live. As almost half of the country’s farmland lacks irrigation, Indian farmers depend on the monsoon.
The farm sector employs more than half of the country’s population and accounts for nearly 15% of India’s $2.7 trillion economy, Asia’s third-biggest.
Reuters