Indian agriculture is heavily dependent on the climate of India : a favorable southwest summer monsoon is critical in securing water for irrigating Indian crops.
In some parts of India, the failure of the monsoons result in water shortages, resulting in below-average crop yields. This is particularly true of major drought-prone regions such as southern and eastern Maharashtra, northern Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat, and Rajasthan.
Drought conditions loom over south Karnataka and central Maharashtra adding to concern at the severely deficient southwest monsoon in parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat.These States have been advised to go for early rabi (winter) plantation to make up for the shortfall in kharif sowing. Much will depend on the progress of the monsoon in the last week of July 2012.
With an average 40 % deficiency in monsoon rain in the northwest so far, farmers in paddy-growing Punjab and Haryana are stressed due to the higher cost of cultivation.
Two-thirds of the kharif sowing period are already over.
The Centre on Saturday July 28,2012 convened a meeting of the affected States, including Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat. Agriculture Secretary Ashish Bahuguna, who convened the meeting with the Principal Secretaries of the six States on a non-working day, said he reviewed the situation with the States that faced “contingency.” The situation is worst in Karnataka, where sowing of coarse cereals, pulses and oilseeds has been hit.
In the Pune-Sholapur-Sangli-Satara belt of Maharashtra, rainfall deficiency has severely hit the sowing of pulses and coarse cereals. About 8.5 lakh hectares remained unsown. These districts have been advised to go for early rabi sowing of guar, gram and maize to make up for the shortfall.
In Rajasthan, monsoon has been delayed in the western districts and jowar and bajra sowing on nearly 15 lakh hectares has been affected.
India Faces Drought Since 2009
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Thursday Aug 02,2012 that rains over the entire June to September season were now expected to be less than 90 per cent of long-term averages.
Between June 1 and August 1, rainfall was about 19 per cent below average, close to the 23 per cent shortfall in the 2009 season(India, one of the world's largest food producers and consumers with a population of 1.2 billion, last suffered a drought in 2009, which forced it to import sugar, pushing global prices higher)The monsoon is vital for the 55 per cent or so of farmlands that do not have irrigation. The four-month season accounts for 75 per cent of the country's annual rainfall and half of that is usually delivered in June and July.
Monsoon rains are considered deficient - a drought in layman's terms - if they fall below 90 per cent of a 50-year average.
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