India's monsoon covered the entire country today, 12 days before the normal date, aiding a revival in sowing of rice, corn and oilseeds delayed by below average rains last month, the weather bureau said.
Monsoon rains, the main source of irrigation water for the nation's 235 million farmers, normally covers the entire country by July 15, the India Meteorological Department said on its Web site. Falls spread to the entire country on July 10 last year.
The monsoon may be below normal this year, the government said on June 24, paring its forecast due to the El Nino weather pattern. Near-normal rains were predicted in April. Showers in the June 1-July 1 period were 46 percent below the long-period, the weather bureau said yesterday.
"What needs to be watched now is how spatially and timely distributed rains are this month and in August," said Sangeetha Saranathan, an analyst at India Infoline Ltd.. "The good news is that there's been no incremental bad news after the forecast of a below normal rains."
India relies on the June-September rainy season to produce food for its 1.2 billion people, as more than half the nation's crop land isn't irrigated. Timely rain is crucial to boosting incomes of the 742 million people living in rural areas in an economy already forecast by the central bank to expand at the slowest pace in seven years.
The monsoon weather system revived late last month after a two week lull caused by tropical cyclone Aila, which lashed the nation's east coast on May 25.
That helped narrow the deficit to 29 percent in the week ended July 1 from 68 percent a week earlier, data released by the weather office yesterday shows.
Rice, Oilseeds
Planting of monsoon-sown crops, including rice, oilseeds and sugar cane, will gather momentum this month as rains have advanced, Farm Minister Sharad Pawar said today in parliament.
"Paddy cultivation can continue up to the first week of August," he said, adding that the nation's rice stockpile is enough to last for more than one year.
Dry weather conditions in July last year hurt sugar cane production this year, turning India into a net importer for the first time since 2006.
Sowing of monsoon crops begins in June and ends mostly by July. Harvesting starts in September.
India's western coast and northeastern states may receive "very heavy" rainfall during the next four days, exceeding 25 centimeters, the weather bureau said today.
Original from:: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aq5xQnLhOxfA
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