When the rains fail ...

In India, where more than 60% of workers are in the farm sector, below-normal rains extract a terrible human cost

It’s official – India has a deficient monsoon this year, triggering fears of a drought in many states. The Meteorological Department last week said the rainfall this year would be only 87% of the long-term average of the past 50 years. Clearly, this has wide ramifications for the wider economy, especially small and marginal farmers who subsist on agriculture.
Already, a delayed and less-than-normal monsoon has pushed back the sowing schedule for many crops, driving some farmers to take their own lives, besides raising fears of a smaller harvest for some cereals and pulses, an important protein source for many in the country.

In a country that also depends on monsoon rains to fill water reservoirs and shore up already-depleted groundwater reserves, any deficiency also means an abrupt cutback in available resources for both drinking as well as irrigation.
Additionally, it raises concerns about a likely spike in food inflation, though the government has said it will release foodgrains from its swollen reserves to contain prices.
In this special section we take a look at what a deficient monsoon means for the country, and more importantly, the farmers who are the first and worst hit when the rains fail.
 

• Jhunjhunu waits for govt to act as its wells run low

•   Monsoon forecast scaled down to deficient

• Crop sowing advances; concerns remain

 

• Maharashtra's irrigation system tied in knots

 

• Big monsoon picture masks agony on the small farm

  

• Yield of cereals, pulses might drop on low rains: Laxman Singh Rathore

• A perfect storm threatens Maharashtra's cotton farmers