More rainfall expected in Sep, says agri secretary

Rainfall next month is expected to be better as monsoon is unlikely to be influenced by El Nino weather pattern, helping rice and other kharif crop, agriculture secretary Ashish Bahuguna said on Wednesday.

El Nino refers to abnormal warming of surface ocean waters in the Pacific that disrupts weather pattern causing drought and floods in many regions of the world.

"I don't think the September rains will be impacted due to El Nino. Even if El Nino temperature do increase, I do not think, it will impact our monsoon. It may affect other parts of the world," Bahuguna said on the sidelines of a Confederation of Indian Industry event.

So far, monsoon deficit is 13 per cent.

However, the seasonal rains have revived because the Indian Ocean Dipole, known as Indian Nino, is now favourable, he said.

Better rains in September will help in retaining soil moisture and support sowing of rabi crops, Bhauguna said, adding that kharif crop will also benefit.

He said there may be more rainy days ahead as monsoon could withdraw late from north-west India.      

"Normally, monsoon starts withdrawing from north-west India around September 1. This year, it seems withdrawal will be delayed. Onset of monsoon was delayed and withdrawal will also delay. We will have more rainy days," he said.

On Kharif crops situation, Bhahuguna said the crop health looks better and the gap in sowing area has been made up due to the recent spell of rains.

Area coverage under rice, oilseeds, cotton and sugarcane is good, though it is slightly lower under coarse cereals and pulses, he said.

"I think, recent spell of rains will help area under coarse cereals to pick up, especially ragi in Karnataka, bajra and jowar in Rajasthan," Bahuguna said.

Although the kharif crop prospects are improving, there will certainly be some impact on overall production and productivity, he noted.

Total area under kharif crops is down at 32.9 million hectare as on August 24, against 34.2 million hectare in the same period last year.

Bahuguna said Karnataka, Maharasthra, Gujarat and Rajasthan have officially declared drought in some areas.

"The situation in all of these states is much better than what it was a month ago. Saurashtra region in Gujarat is still bad as it has not received rains at all. Saurashtra is probably the worst affected now," he said.

The secretary mentioned that a central team is on the job of assessing the situation. A team, which visited Karnataka, has come back and will shortly submit a report. A separate team will visit other three states as well.

To mitigate the impact of drought in these states, the government has already announced some measures like diesel subsidy and will further consider some relief measures in the forthcoming meeting of the empowered group of ministers on drought next week, he added.

"We still have few proposals that will be submitted to the EGoM as and when it meets next week. The proposals would be to get measures to support the protective irrigation for orchard crop among others," he added.