Southwest Monsoon may have taken a while to set its foot in Kerala and Mumbai but once it did, it steadily covered rest of the country. Above normal rainfall was observed in several parts of Karnataka and Maharashtra in June. The spillover was also witnessed in July as intensity and coverage of rainfall over the past week increased.
The Monsoon deficit significantly dropped from 11 percent on June 30 to a mere 2 percent on July 4 for the country owing to the heavy rain received during the Monsoon season so far. More so, within 48 hours, the Monsoon is expected to cover rest of the remaining parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat.
This news of good rains is not just a relief to residents who have been reeling under intense heat and humid weather conditions but also for farmers whose most cultivable land remains rainfed.
Kharif season is in its peak where maize, paddy, pulses and most varieties of oilseeds are grown with the help of Monsoon rain. Good Monsoon rain also sets the ground for rabi sowing.
The forecast of good Monsoon rain in July has raised the hopes of good kharif output this year. The growth is expected to see the growth rise to 3.2 per cent year-on-year in 2016.
The early deficit of monsoon rain affected sowing. Data compiled by the agriculture ministry showed a 23 per cent decline in the area under various agricultural crops so far this season. As of July 1, the actual acreage coverage area under kharif sowing stood at 21.59 million hectare this year, compared to 27.93 million ha the same day last year.
Aditi Nayar, senior economist at ICRA, said: “The below-average rains in June are likely to give way to surplus rainfall in the subsequent months. The expectation of an above-average volume of rain in 2016 is a relief after the deficits in the last two years, although the likely temporal distribution is less than ideal."
Source: Business Standard
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