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Untimely rains hit India's summer crops, delay rural economy recovery

"We couldn't harvest soybeans last month due to continuous rainfall," said Shantabai Chikhale, 65, while harvesting with her son on a one acre plot in Maharashtra, India's second largest soybean production state.

November 15, 2019 / 15:36 IST
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Heavy rains in October and November have brought more misery to India's farmers, after summer-sown crops such as soybean, cotton, rice and vegetables suffered rain and flood damage during the wettest June-September monsoon season in 25 years.

"We couldn't harvest soybeans last month due to continuous rainfall," said Shantabai Chikhale, 65, while harvesting with her son on a one acre plot in Maharashtra, India's second largest soybean production state.

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Chikhale had been expecting a bumper crop, but now estimates that two-thirds of the soybean pods on her farm in Kalamb village were knocked off by the rains, while much of the remaining crop has been damaged.

The recent wet spell is also forcing farmers, like Chikhale, to delay sowing winter crops, placing a further drag on the rural economy at a time when India's economic growth has slumped to a six-year low.