Rainfall during the ongoing southwest monsoon season covered up for the deficiency in the initial phase, reaching an excess of 7.3% as of August 19, according to data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
While 30% of the 725 districts in the country are still rainfall deficient or large deficient, about a tenth, from where data is collected, received rainfall in the category of large excess. This, experts said, doesn’t augur well for crops.
“The skewed distribution of rainfall can cause damage to already-sown crops, especially pulses where inflation has been ruling higher than comfortable levels,” Rahul Chauhan, director at iGrain India, an agri research firm said, adding rainfall deficiency in irrigated areas such as Punjab will raise input cost for farmers.
While 28% of the districts are rainfall-deficient, 2% are facing large deficiency since the arrival of monsoon till August 19, IMD data showed. About 17% of the districts also got excessive rainfall during the four-month long monsoon season this year.
Uneven spread of monsoons is also likely to affect crops such as vegetables, coffee, and spices.
Coffee growers in the southern states said coffee plantations have suffered considerable damage due to high summer temperatures this year, followed by heavy rainfall and landslides in the country’s coffee heartlands.
Heavy rains in Chikkamagaluru also damaged peppercorn, said farmers.
While Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Gangetic West Bengal are facing rainfall deficiency of 28%, 35%, 21%, 12%, 23% and 20% respectively, parts of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh saw more than normal rainfall.
Kharif crop sowing has been completed in most areas with acreage surpassing 103.1 million hectares, as per data from the agriculture ministry, which showed area under most crops–paddy, pulses, coarse grains and oilseeds exceeding last year.
The weather office has predicted above-normal rainfall in the second half of the monsoon season, or the August-September period, raising fresh concerns that excessive wetness next month could affect kharif crops.