Crop prospects hazy as rainfall is much below normal still

Crop prospects hazy as rainfall is much below normal still
The Hindu Business Line, July 17, 2009, Page 1

Water storage at most reservoirs at less than half the capacity.

M.R. Subramani, Chennai

Monsoon continues to be in the deficit, but the shortfall has been trimmed to 27 per cent for the week-ended July 15 against 36 per cent for the period ending July 8.

A six-per cent excess rainfall during July 9-15 had helped. But rainfall in Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal continues to be deficient.

For the entire period starting June 1, rainfall has been deficient in key farming areas such as Gujarat, Marathwada, Vidharbha, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarkhand and Bihar.

This could affect the prospects of crops such as rice, soyabean, groundnut, maize and pulses.

Already, the prices of pulses are soaring on reports of deficient monsoon and the season for sowing the crop passing by.

That the monsoon’s spread has been uneven can be gauged from the fact that only 10 of the 37 meteorological sub-divisions received excess rainfall during July 9-16. Normal rainfall was experienced in eight sub-divisions. The monsoon was deficient in 11 and scanty in seven sub-divisions, according to the India Meteorological Department data. From June 1, the monsoon has been deficient in 20 sub-divisions.

As the monsoon turned vigorous last week, the reservoirs have begun to fill up. The storage position on Thursday was 20.731 billion cubic metres (BCM) or 14 per cent of the full reservoir level of 151.768 BCM. During the same period last year, it was 28 per cent.

The storage level in key reservoirs such as Bakra Nangal is at a low 19 per cent against 60 per cent during the same period a year ago. The level in almost all the major reservoirs is less than half the capacity, barring Gerusoppa and Kabini, which benefitted from the heavy rains a fortnight ago in Karnataka.

An area of concern is the poor level in the Godavari, Narmada, Kutch and Ganga basins.