Farm output may dip marginally on monsoon concern: IARI

Farm production may go down a bit this Kharif due to late and "below-normal" monsoon but the fall is unlikely to be substantial as the sowing season is far from over, said state-owned Indian Agricultural Research Institute.

"We expect a slight dip in production but it won't be significant. We have developed drought-resistant seed varieties (for some crops), which would be of great help," IARI Director H S Gupta said. However, he refused to specify the amount by which the output is likely to fall short from the previous season.

The fall in the output is not going to be substantial as farmers can sow paddy till July-end, groundnut, sunflower and soyabean till August and maize till September, so even if the monsoon is delayed in some parts, it won't have much impact on the output, Gupta said.

India is estimated to have produced 118.79 million tonnes of food grains, including 85.46 million tonnes of rice, and 18.17 million tonnes of oilseeds during Kharif 2008-09.

Gupta's assertion assumes importance as it comes amid a series of bad news on monsoon and acreage.

Of the 36 meteorological sub-divisions in the country, 21 have received normal-to-excess rains while 15 have witnessed deficient or scanty rainfall, according to the weather office.

Western Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, Himachal and parts of Gujarat are among the worst affected with a deficiency of over 60 per cent.