India has recorded a 43% rainfall deficit so far this monsoon, raising concerns about how it will hurt the kharif crops, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Tuesday.
To tackle the problem, the Union government has activated contingency plans for vulnerable districts and stepped up monitoring of the advance of monsoon, and crop conditions, Chouhan said.
The Kharif season in India is between June and October. The crops are sown at the beginning of the monsoon and harvested at the end of it.
About 315 districts in the country are likely to have been affected by low monsoon rainfall, Chouhan said after chairing a meeting with state agriculture ministers, district collectors and experts from agricultural and weather agencies.
Of these, 111 districts with irrigation coverage of less than 25% have been classified as high priority, 76 districts with coverage between 25% and 50% as medium priority, and 128 districts with relatively better irrigation facilities as low priority.
The minister said that most of the districts that have been affected by low rainfall are in 12 states: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.
Chouhan said that India was facing the possibility of a weak monsoon because of El Niño weather conditions, which were already affecting rainfall patterns.
The El Niño weather phenomenon involves the warming of ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific. It typically occurs every few years and has been linked to reduced monsoon rainfall in India.
Besides the 43% deficit, forecasts suggested that weak rainfall conditions could continue into the week ending July 2, the minister said.
The India Meteorological Department has forecast seasonal rainfall at 90% of the long-period average. For June, rainfall had been projected at 92% of normal levels, but with one week remaining in the month, the national rainfall deficit stood at more than 42%, The Indian Express reported.
As of Tuesday, 26 of the country’s 36 states and Union Territories had recorded rainfall deficiencies of at least 20%. Nine had deficits exceeding 60%.
Chouhan said the Union government had set up an El Niño Monitoring Cell and a Crop Weather Watch Group to track the advance of monsoon, crop sowing, crop conditions, agricultural inputs and market trends based on real time data feedback and advice.
States have also been directed to establish control rooms and appoint nodal officers to coordinate with the Union government.
The Union government has also advised states to promote short-duration and low-water crops, with particular emphasis on pulses, oilseeds and millets in rain-fed areas.
Chouhan said that districts should be ready to switch to alternative crops if rainfall delays continue and added that the government did not want agricultural land to remain uncultivated.
Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.
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