Govt in panic mode as monsoon plays truant

What should the government do to tackle a possible failure of monsoon? Agriculture Secretaries of states that have not received rainfall will meet Union Agriculture Secretary tomorrow and search for answers.

About 60 per cent of the total cultivable area of 140 million hectare is rain fed, while the rest is irrigated.

Southwest monsoon, which had brought cheer to the farming community due to its early onset on May 23, had stopped in its tracks over Konkan region of Maharashtra on June 7.

Union Agriculture Secretary T Nanda Kumar will hold discussions with Agriculture Secretaries of states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh on how to deal with the situation that could send the economy into a downward spiral.

On June 20, the Committee of Secretaries (CoS), headed by Union Cabinet Secretary, took stock of the situation arising out of delay in monsoon and its impact on Kharif crops.

The CoS had decided that the Agriculture Ministry on June 25 will call a meeting of agriculture secretaries of those states which have so far not received rainfall. These states have been also asked to come up with contingency plans in case the monsoon gets further delayed.

However, Nanda Kumar had said that "at this point of time there is no cause of worry". He would brief the cabinet secretary about the outcome of the meet on June 26.

The Agriculture sector supports the livelihood of about 60 per cent of the country's population.

The major Kharif crops are paddy, jowar, bajra, maize, cotton, groundnut, soyabean, arhar, urad, moong and sugarcane. Failure of monsoon will severely impact the output of these crops.

Although farm sector accounts for less than 20 per cent of GDP, the country was hoping that a good crop would prop up growth, especially when other sectors are not doing so well given the global slowdown.

The CoS is likely to meet again after the meeting of state-level farm secretaries.

The Agriculture Ministry has been asked to monitor the seed availability to ensure that farmers get sufficient seed for re-sowing, if required. The delay in monsoon damages the already sown seeds, for which farmers need re-planting.

The main focus of the government has been on the rainfed areas, which are dependent on monsoon rains.

As on June 19, the country had received just over 50 per cent of the normal rainfall this season. Of the 36 meteorological sub-divisions, 28 reported deficient or scanty rainfall while eight received excess or normal rains.

Under normal conditions, monsoon should have reached Mumbai by June 10 and covered entire Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and parts of Uttar Pradesh by June 15.