Ten states faced deficient rainfall conditions as of July 30, despite the country receiving surplus rainfall for eight straight days, according to data released by the India Meteorological Department.
The country’s rainfall surplus eased further to 2.04 percent on July 30, compared with 2.26 percent the previous day.
Despite normal rainfall, the impact on sowing has been limited, with acreage just 2.3 percent higher than the previous year as of July 26.
Rice sowing was flat from the previous year at 216 million hectares as of July 26, compared with 216.4 million hectares the previous year, while pulses sowing was up 14 percent. Major rice-growing states like Haryana and Punjab continue to witness over 40 percent rainfall deficit.
Coarse cereals sowing is up 5 percent from the previous year, while jute and cotton sowing was down 6.9 percent. West Bengal had 12 percent deficit as of July 30.
Another reason for low sowing levels is uneven reservoir capacity levels across the country. Reservoir levels improved to 4 percent below normal as of July 23 from 13 percent a week ago, But Punjab, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh continued to experience at least 50 percent deficit from normal capacity storage held by reservoirs.
Chandigarh and Manipur were the most deficient regions with a deficit of over 50 percent from normal.
A normal is calculated using a long-period average of 30 years for a specific region.
The government is hoping for a revival of its agricultural sector, which recorded 1.4 percent growth in FY24, compared to 4.7 percent in the previous year, also lower than the 3.7 percent long-term average.
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