The rain deficit has come down to 18% after the recent spurt in the monsoon, but the delay and the erratic pattern of precipitation has adversely impacted the paddy crop.
The rain deficit has come down to 18% after the recent spurt in the monsoon, but the delay and the erratic pattern of precipitation has adversely impacted the paddy crop.
Besides, large parts of the country are still experiencing a dry spell, forcing the government to implement contingency plans, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar told the Rajya Sabha on Friday.
“The monsoon this year has been weak and erratic, resulting in late sowing of crops... Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, Assam, Manipur and parts of some other states are likely to be affected,” he said.
According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), the country received 310 mm of rain from June 1 to July 23, compared with the average of 368.8 mm for the period. Prolonged dry spells in large parts have set the alarm bells ringing across sectors, although the country has enough food grain stock after the bumper crops of the past four years.
As on July 23, the North-West region was rain deficient by 37% and the North-East by 42%. The situation has improved in most parts, except the North-West and the North-East, UP and Bihar. This week, the monsoon was vigorous over central India and the south peninsula where the rainfall was 79% and 23% above normal.
The cumulative rainfall this monsoon so far has been 18% below the long period average (LPA). “Of the 36 meteorological sub-divisions, 18 have received excess/normal rain, while the remaining 18 deficient/scanty,” IMD said.
The cumulative rainfall scenario over five met sub-divisions — West and East Rajasthan, West and East Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat — changed from deficient to normal this week. There was improvement in 18 sub-divisions, not much change in nine and deterioration in the remaining nine sub-divisions.
Due to the erratic rainfall, rice area and productivity may be adversely impacted, Pawar said, adding that the situation could be salvaged “to some extent” by cultivating oilseeds, pulses and coarse cereals. “Kharif sowing is in progress in all states. The Kharif area coverage is almost normal in case of cotton, jowar, maize, pulses and oilseeds.
However, less area coverage has been reported for rice and bajra,” the minister said. As on July 16, the area under paddy was 114.63 lakh hectares compared to 145.21 lakh hectares last year, he said, adding that the shortfall was more in UP, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal. Manipur has declared drought in all districts, while Assam and Jharkhand have declared drought in 14 and four districts.
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