Northwest, west set to get more monsoon rains next week

NEW DELHI: Expect more rains in northwest and western parts of the country next week. The weather office says the withdrawal of monsoon from the western parts of Rajasthan will not start for at least the next five days. This will be the seventh straight year when the monsoon has stretched for at least three weeks from the normal withdrawal date of September 1.

Meanwhile, rains were 21% more than normal in the week ending September 12 making it a hat-trick of above-average rainfalls in consecutive weeks. Last week, rains were 31% above average, improving the situation in most parts of the country, especially parts of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Rajasthan, which are facing water shortage. However, the late surge of rains failed to reduce the seasonal deficiency which still stands at 8% due to poor rains in June and July.

The revival may have improved the water storage situation in 84 major reservoirs of the country taking it to over 65% of the capacity but storage level in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Tripura is lower than the average. Overall food production will also be affected due to erratic and untimely rains.

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said overall grain production will be down from last year with the impact more visible in coarse cereals, oilseeds and pulses. "This may stoke food inflation as pulses and edible oils are imported to meet the domestic demand, " said RS Sharma, a senior scientist, Agriculture Policy Research Institute.