Agriculture is no more aggrieved: Planting gathers pace, water level in reservoirs 39% higher than 10 year average

NEW DELHI: The monsoon’s revival has soaked parched fields and replenished water reserves, prompting farmers to plant crops and easing anxiety of financial markets that were worried that a weak start of the rainy season would stoke inflation, dent demand and derail reforms.

While rainfall in July is critical for farm production, the monsoon’s performance has been promising so far despite the weather office’s forecast of a 12 per cent seasonal deficit. Rainfall since June 1 has been 10 per cent higher than average, as the monsoon suddenly gained momentum last week turning around from a weak and late start. The sluggish start of the season had contributed to the fall in the stock market for several sessions, but the market is now rising again, in step with the monsoon. Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said the situation was looking better. "As we can see rains in the past one week has progressed. This will increase planting of summer crops," he said. Last week, official data showed that farmers had planted in crops in a smaller area than last year. With farmers accelerating crop planting, and water level in reservoirs being 39 per cent higher than the 10-year average, improved agricultural prospects are making waves. Palm oil prices in Malaysia fell the most in three months on Thursday because of prospects of higher oilseed output in India and consequently, lower imports. Palm oil had risen in the past as India’s oilseed production was expected to fall.

Analysts said the stronger-than-expected progress of the monsoon so far was encouraging. "Overall while SW monsoon is still a risk factor, we expect CPI to undershoot RBI’s Jan 2016 projection by ~40bps and average 5 per cent in FY16. This is likely to create room for further 25bps cut in current fiscal," said Citi’s Anurag Jha in a report. Early rain in parts of central and western India has prompted farmers to plant soyabean early. "Planting is earlier than the previous year by a fortnight, which will aid productivity," said Rajesh Agrawal, former chairman of the Soyabean Processors Association of India More good news for farmers and policymakers comes from the Central Water Commission, which reported on Thursday that water level in India’s main reservoirs is 103 per cent of last year’s level and 139 per cent of the average level in the past decade. Reservoirs normally fill up rapidly in June-July and create a water reserve for irrigation, drinking and power generation until the following year’s monsoon. Reservoirs with more water than last year are in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Odisha, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Good rainfall is also boosting paddy cultivation, which constitutes more than 60 per cent of the kharif crop. Trilochan Mohapatra, director at the Central Rice Research Institute in Cuttack said rain was encouraging with farmers setting paddy nurseries across south and eastern India and in north, going for field transplanting. "If the monsoon pace remains strong and evenly distributed, area under planting will pick up," he said.