Monsoon 26 percent above average in past week - weather office

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The monsoon rains last week poured down heavily in rice-producing areas where they have been sparse so far, pushing overall rainfall 26 percent above average but without damage to crops elsewhere.

The monsoon, crucial for 55 percent of the farmland that does not have irrigation, has already brought the heaviest rains in nearly two decades during the first half of the season.

Eastern states such as Jharkhand had received less rain than normal, however, but last week rains there picked up, allowing rice sowing to accelerate and be on track to at least equal normal acreage planted with the crop.

Rains over the rest of the country were close to average levels, easing concerns of crop damage.

Most of the summer planted crops except rice are now at the growing stage and need rains at regular intervals for higher yields.

India, one of the world's biggest producers and consumers of farm commodities, is heavily reliant on the annual monsoon for its huge harvests of rice, sugar and cash crops like cotton.

(Reporting by Ratnajyoti Dutta; editing by Mayank Bhardwaj)