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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Slight delay in monsoon onset won’t impact farm prospects: Farm secy-Banikinkar Pattanayak

Slight delay in monsoon onset won’t impact farm prospects: Farm secy-Banikinkar Pattanayak

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published Published on Jun 4, 2012   modified Modified on Jun 4, 2012

A delay in the onset of monsoon by 3-4 days over the Kerala coast won’t jeopardise India’s farm prospects in the crop year starting June 1 as sowing usually picks up with the arrival of the seasonal showers, according to outgoing agriculture secretary P K Basu.
In an interview, Basu told FE that the rainfall in June, however, holds the key. ‘‘If there are scanty showers in June, sowing may be affected. But that situation is highly unlikely as of now. The monsoon forecast for 2012 is normal,’’ he said on Thursday.

The India Meteorological Department said on Wednesday southwest monsoon rains may hit the Kerala coast after June 4, instead of June 1 as forecast earlier, because of anti-cyclonic conditions. Speculations about a slump in rice production intensified after many parts of the country reeled under scorching heat and received low unseasonal showers. Though few parts of the country received unseasonal showers in April and May, the months before have been dry. Paddy is the main summer-sown crop.

Rainfall in the June-September season is forecast to be 99% of the 50-year average of 89 centimeters. The IMD defines normal monsoon rains as 96% to 104% of the long-period average, which refers to the average showers received between 1951 and 2000. The season brings about 70% of annual rains and is crucial for summer-sown crops, as more than 60% of the country's farmland is rain-fed, and also boosts ground water reserves for winter planting.

Basu said there is no threat to food security as the country has adequate grain reserves. Stocks in state-run granaries are expected to have swelled a record 75 mt by end-May, thanks to two successive years of bumper harvest, and the government is struggling to offload some grains to ease storage in almost choked warehouses to accommodate fresh crops. India’s foodgrains production is estimated at a record 252.56 mt, compared with 244. 78 mt a year before.

Basu said steering the country into two straight years of bumper grain production after the worst drought in around four decades in 2009 clipped the summer harvest was the biggest high-point of his career. The reason is agriculture ensures inclusive growth, he said. ‘‘When the FAO writes to you, congratulating on your success in crossing 100 mt mark in rice production, you know, you have arrived at the global stage. Farmers have made the country proud,’’ he said. Moreover, the ‘‘jinx’’ of low production in eastern regions has been broken, with states like Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha having performed exceedingly well in 2011-12 to drive up rice output to more than 103 mt for the first time, he added.

However, he added he would have liked the faster disbursal of a package to poor farmers of the Vidharbha region, known for farmers’ suicides, as well as approval to the seeds Bill and the pesticides Bill, which were aimed at attracting more private players into the sector by pushing through crucial reforms in farm inputs.

The Financial Express, 1 June, 2012, http://www.financialexpress.com/news/slight-delay-in-monsoon-onset-wont-impact-farm-prospects-farm-secy/956526/0


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