New Delhi, Monday, September 10, Due to the late onset of monsoon, the milled rice production is expected to come down by 6% to 98.5 million tonnes during the current Kharif season. The delay in monsoon has led to rains being deficit in key northern and southern growing regions. However, the late rain has increased the water levels in important reservoirs and the moisture in the soil to benefit Rabi crops.
With the pick-up in monsoon, the sowing patterns have improved drastically during the month of August. The areas sown under coarse cereals were deficient by 22 % last month declined to 15% and the area sown under pulses, which were deficient by 20% declined by 4%. However, the delay in the onset of monsoon impacted initial sowing patterns across crops though gradual pick-up in rains accelerated sowing activities and helped to partially eradicate the drop in the crop acreages.
The 84 reservoirs in different parts of the country as of August 30 stood at 65 % of the shortage capacity at Full Reservoir Level (FRL). The present storage in nearly 83% of the storage last year and 102% of the average of last ten years. Out of the 84 reservoirs. 55 reported to be more than 80% of the normal storage and 29 reported to be 80% or below of normal storage.
However, Kharif yields are expected to be impacted due to delay in sowing, uneven distribution of rainfall and lower agricultural input consumption though the situation has improved and Rabi planting is unlikely to be impacted due to comfortable reservoirs levels.
