The South-West monsoon, despite a delayed onset of four days, has delivered a surplus rainfall of 16 per cent for June this year. The country as a whole received 189.5 mm of rainfall during June, about 16 per cent higher than the normal of 163.6 mm for the period, according to the Indian Metrological Department (IMD).

Thirty three of the 36 metrological subdivisions, accounting for 95 per cent of the area of the country have received excess or normal rainfall during June. Thirteen subdivisions accounting for 52 per cent of the area have received excess rainfall over the 50 year long period average, while 20 subdivisions have received normal rainfall. SW monsoon, the lifeline of country’s agriculture, covered the entire country on June 26, close to three weeks ahead of the normal date of July 15.

Among those that have deficient rainfall include Bihar a decline of 28 per cent over normal, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a deficit of 21 per cent. The subdivision of Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura has also received a deficit rainfall of 31 per cent.

The IMD has forecast that July rainfall will be eight per cent below normal, while precipitation in August would be 10 per cent deficit. IMD has also predicted a ‘deficient’ rainfall this year and sources said that the Met was sticking to its forecast.

The better-than-expected monsoon has given a fillip to the planting of key kharif crops such as paddy, oilseeds and pulses, while arresting the uptrend in prices mainly that of pulses, witnessed during April-May. In fact, prices of many agri-commodities including pulses have softened a bit on rise in acreages. Also the Government’s move to import pulses to meet the shortfall has aided the softening trend in prices. The surplus June rains has also resulted in improving water levels in key reservoirs across the country, which should augur well for the kharif crops. Rainfall during July and August is crucial for kharif crops. “The spatial distribution of rainfall is important for kharif crops during July as they will be vegetative stage,” said JS Sandhu, Agriculture Commissioner. The rain deficit of eight per cent predicted by IMD for July would not have a major impact if the rainfall is well spread and well distributed.

As on June 26, the kharif planting was complete in 165.61 lakh ha, up 23 per cent over previous year, according to Agriculture Ministry data. The increase has been largely driven by higher plantings of pulses, coarse cereals, oilseeds and cotton.

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