Weak monsoon: Maharashtra, Karnataka asked to go for contingency plans

With the monsoon continuing to elude many parts of India, the central government has asked the governments of Maharashtra and Karnataka to implement contingency plans in the wake of low rainfall, and is monitoring the situation in Rajasthan and the Saurashtra region in Gujarat.

As of today, the southwest monsoon has been 20-30 per cent below normal. In Karnataka, it has been 40-50 per cent less.

In its weekly update, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the rains would improve from the middle of next week in the western, northern and central parts but go down in eastern India. Even then, there is a strong possibility of IMD downgrading its earlier prediction of a normal monsoon to a below-normal one. It is expected to release its third update on the monsoon later this month.

The contingency plan, formulated by the agriculture ministry, suggests measures such as alternative crops if farmers fail to plant paddy, planting short-duration crops such as pulses or oilseeds, minimising use of ground water, judicious use of fertiliser, regulating the supply of canal water in irrigated areas, etc.(RAINFALL IN INDIA)

Maharashtra and Karnataka mainly produce cotton, sugarcane, oilseeds and pulses during the kharif season. In Maharashtra, officials said there had been reports that farmers were removing their sugarcane crop and selling it for fodder, as prices of the latter have gone up sharply in the past 10-15 days. "If this is true, it can have a serious impact on overall sugar production in 2012-2013, as Maharashtra is the country's largest producer of sugar," a senior government official said. As mentioned earlier, the situation in Rajasthan and Saurashtra are also being watched. "If the rains do not improve in these two areas in the next one week, we could also direct the state government to start implementing contingency plans," a senior agriculture department official said.

Meanwhile, the National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA) released a nationwide contingency plan today, with focus on the north, central and western parts. NRAA is an advisory body on solutions to the problems of rainfed areas. The plan focuses on short-duration crops, judicious use of canal water in north India, alternative cropping patterns and focus on fodder cultivation to feed the livestock.

A senior IMD official told Business Standard that cloud formation over the Arabian Sea was very weak, leading to less than normal rainfall over the central, northern and western parts.

“We had expected normal rain to happen by at least July 15, but so far it has not been the case,” the official said.

He said most of the rain this year had been because of cloud formation in the Bay of Bengal. The good news, he said, was that the threat of an El Niño weather condition had eased considerably since last time. This phenomenon leads to extreme weather conditions, such as drought and floods.