Rice, oilseed crops hit by monsoon lull

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New Delhi, Aug 30: A weak phase in India’s monsoon of more than two weeks has adversely hit standing oilseed and rice crops in key central and northern regions, but weather officials are optimistic of revival of rain soon.

Lulls are normal during the four-month monsoon, the main source of water for farms in India, where about 600 million of the billion-plus people depend on agriculture to earn a living.

Monsoon rains, which begin in the first week of June, normally start to withdraw by mid-September. “A weak phase is common in any monsoon season but this year it has been prolonged,” a senior India Meteorological Department official said. “The situation is not good for agriculture.” “Another spell of rains is coming and it should take place within a week or so, but we have to wait and watch.”

Monsoon rains have been about 97% of the long-period average from the beginning of the season in June to Aug 24, considered to be normal by the India Meteorological Department. Despite that, the spread of rains in several key growing regions in the country have been uneven, affecting some crops.

Jharkhand, an eastern rice-growing state, is the worst hit with rainfall 32% below normal so far this season. Rains in Rajasthan, an oilseed-producing northwestern desert state, have been 28% below average. The northern states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, the northeastern region and Tamil Nadu in the south have also seen rainfall shortages ranging from 12% to 30%.

One weather department official said rainfall would be subdued over the next three days in most parts of the country. The monsoon hit India on June 5 after a delay of four days and was poor in the first three weeks. The monsoon later picked up with a fury, causing severe floods in some areas, but rains have been patchy again in August. Traders said rice crops in central, eastern and northern states urgently need rain. The winter harvest of the crop was forecast to be 2 million to 2.5 million tonnes lower than the normal output of 70 million tonnes.

Soybean, the season’s main oilseed crop, would start deteriorating if it did not rain in the next week in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, the largest soybean grower, traders said.