More than three-fourths of the country received normal or above normal rainfall till September 10, as India’s rain surplus stayed above 7 percent for the tenth day in a row, the latest data released by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) shows.
Of the 36 states and union territories, 15 have received normal rainfall, 13 have excessive rain and eight remain deficient this monsoon season.
Most of the excess rainfall is concentrated in the southern and central regions. In the south, six of the eight states and union territories have received above average rain. In central India, four of seven have received excess rain.
Of the eight states running rainfall deficits, four each are in the eastern and northwest regions of India.
Normal rain has ensured that kharif sowing has closed the gap with the season's average. The deficit narrowed further to just 0.3 percent below normal as of September 9 from 0.8 percent in the previous week.
Sowing has been higher than the previous year since July. On September 9, kharif acreage was 2.2 percent higher at 109.2 million hectares.
Paddy sowing was 2 percent above average and coarse cereals 4.3 percent above the normal area. Jute and cotton sowing, however, is 10 percent below normal.
The better kharif acreage can be attributed to improved reservoir capacity, which was 18 percent above the 10-year average as of September 5. In the southern region, the water level was 34 percent above normal capacity following excessive rain.
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