-Down to Earth Lowest amount of rainfall in the last decade; climate change to blame, says Met Paddy cultivation in Jharkhand this Kharif season has taken a huge hit, with most farmers expecting a meagre yield. Monsoon 2022 saw a massive deficit in rainfall — the lowest in the last 10 years.  “I doubt I can harvest even a kilogramme of yield this year,” Mahendra Prasad told Down To Earth. The farmer in...

-Livemint.com An uneven distribution of rainfall has left several key rice-producing states parched even as others had to battle excess water The patchy progress of the southwest monsoon this year has cast a long shadow on India’s kharif crop produce, particularly of rice, which is an important constituent of the government’s food distribution programmes. The threat comes right after wheat production in the rabi season took a hit from heatwaves and at...

Is India going to face inflation in cereal prices during the rest of the current financial year? Experts differ on this. An analysis by Nomura Global Economics and CEIC finds that a below normal monsoon does not always translate into high retail inflation in food. Similarly, an above normal southwest monsoon does not always bring down the rate of food inflation. However, some agricultural experts (please click here, here and...

-GaonConnection West Bengal is India's top paddy growing state. Bardhaman region in the state, which is known as the rice bowl of Bengal, has received minus 47% deficient rainfall leading to a drastic reduction in paddy sowing. A Gaon Connection ground report as part of its Paddy Pain series. Kalyanpur (East Bardhaman), West Bengal: Dinonath Ghosh, a farmer for more than four decades believes that this must be the worst paddy farming...

-The Hindu Reservoirs full and rivers overflowing; people shifted to relief camps Kerala once again stares at a flood-like situation with high intensity rain triggered by strong monsoon winds lashing central Kerala. In addition, a low pressure system is expected to form over the Bay of Bengal by Sunday, which is likely to aggravate the rains. The situation is precarious in the State, especially in central Kerala where swollen rivers have already...