Monsoon rebound prepares ground for bumper harvestAUGUST 20,...

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    Monsoon rebound prepares ground for bumper harvest
    AUGUST 20, 2019


    By Paul Homewood

    As I reported last week, India’s monsoon is on track. As a result,they are now expecting a bumper crop:

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    NEW DELHI: The rebound in monsoon rainfall has created ideal conditions for agriculture for the rest of the year with accelerated planting and much more water in reservoirs, which officials said would lead to record food production this year.

    Rainfall in August has been 35% above normal so far, which has further improved crop planting and filled up major reservoirs with 25% more water than the 10-year average.

    This completes the turnaround of the farm situation that looked grim in June when authorities were planning drought-relief measures as rainfall was one-third less than normal and reservoirs were depleting at a time they normally fill up to meet post-monsoon requirement of drinking, irrigationNSE -3.64 % and power generation.

    Will Also Help Rabi Crops
    Now the conditions are ripe for a good harvest of the kharif, or summer-sown, crop and higher farm incomes, which in turn should boost festive season demand and to some extent revive sales of vehicles, gold and consumer goods in an economy where companies have been nervous about weak demand.

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    “Good monsoon is kind of passport to better harvest,” agriculture commissioner SK Malhotra told ET. “We achieved record food grain production last year. This year also, we expect the same.”

    He said crop planting had accelerated in step with monsoon rainfall, which improved significantly in July and has been in a vigorous phase for three weeks.

    “The deficit in crop planting is fast reducing since the last 30 days,” Malhotra said. “We see some deficit in paddy sowing only, which we expect to cover up by August end. The sowing window for paddy is till August in West Bengal and Jharkhand. We don’t see any shortfall in food grain productions this year,” he said.

    https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/agriculture/monsoon-rebound-prepares-ground-for-bumper-harvest/articleshow/70709020.cms

    It is a very common misconception here in the west that heavy rainfall is based for India, almost as if we transplant our climate onto theirs.

    Anybody with the slightest knowledge of the country, however, would know that a bountiful monsoon is not just good news for farming, but as a knock on effect the whole economy benefits.

 
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