Food bowl states hurt as monsoon finishes below par

NEWDELHI: Four of the top 10 foodproducing states of the country have been affected adversely by deficient, erratic and unevenly spread rainfall this year between JuneandSeptember–theofficial southwest monsoon season which ended on Saturday.

Though 24 states received‘ normal’ rainfall ,12 experienced either deficient rainfall – 20% or less than the normal levels or an excess of over 20%. The food bowl states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab received deficient rainfall.

As many as 215 of 660 districts tracked by the meteorological department for rainfall data clocked a deficit of 20% or more till September 30. Fourteen states had a deficit of 10% or more.

Experts said both kharif and ra bi season production will be hit because less rainfall during monsoon means poor er soil moisture for the winter season crop, sowing for which starts later this month.

While food security will not be gravely impacted, farmers’ distress and losses will likely increase andagriculture growth will go down compared to last year’s 4.9%, raising concerns of further sluggishness in the economy, they added.

“Expect agriculture growth to be around 3% or lower,” Siraj Hussa in, former agriculture secretary, told HT .“One hopes that the farmers in rainfed areas like Madhya Pradesh have been given crop insurance.”

Though the overall deficit in rainfall between June 1 and September 30 stands at 5% for the country,rainfall hasbeenerratic in several parts, including large states, met data shows.