Next week may be better, but for now the news is bad: the southwest monsoon did not progress in the last week, the India Meteorological Department said on Friday.
The department, however, is hopeful that the monsoon would revive and many parts of the country would to get above normal rainfall from July 6. Kharif sowing, instead of improving, has fallen behind by 35.55 per cent compared to the corresponding period last year.
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Alarmed at the situation, Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh reviewed the contingency plans of the ministry. “I am concerned about quality seed not reaching small and marginal farmers,” he tweeted. State governments need to act against sale of spurious seeds, he added. The Centre has called a meeting of Food and Consumer Affairs Ministers here next week.
At an inter-ministerial meeting in the Agriculture Ministry on Friday, IMD officials said rainfall activity was overall scanty except in east and northeast India. Of the 36 met sub-divisions in the country, monsoon is deficient in over 11 and scanty over 14 sub-divisions. The cumulative rainfall till June 24 has come down from 45 to 40 per cent, spelling a drought situation in the country.
The total area under kharif crop this year is 131.52 lakh hectares as against 200.96 lakh hectares last year. The acreage under paddy is lower at 21.91 lakh hectares against 35.77 lakh hectares last year, while the area under pulses is lower by 68.42 per cent. So far, only 4.30 lakh hectare pulses have been cultivated against 13.62 lakh hectares this time last year.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi was informed that monsoon movement will pick up from July 7 and the warming impact of El Nino will be lower than anticipated.