The monsoon’s progress in June has been rapid but erratic, falling 5% below average in the first month of the season and obstructing the planting of kharif, or summer sown crops, particularly pulses and oilseeds.
The southwest monsoon arrived with a bang and drenched southern India and western states such as Maharashtra with heavy rain, after which it took a nearly two-week break before swiftly advancing towards the north to cover the entire country by the end of June, 15 days before it usually does.
Erratic rainfall has reduced crop planting by 21% to 165.2 lakh hectares, although experts say that it is still very early days of the planting season, and farmers can quickly plant crops as soon as rainfall improves. The monsoon did improve after the mid-June hiatus, reducing the deficit from 12% to 5%. However, planting of some crops has lagged. The area under pulses is down 41% at 10.7 lakh hectares.
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