June 25, 2007

 

India delays crop harvests on monsoon rains

 

 

India's summer farm plantings, with all major crops except cotton are showing a lag compared with the area covered a year earlier due to delayed monsoons in central and western regions.

 

India's monsoon rains have yet to reach most oilseed growing regions of central India's Madhya Pradesh province and western province of Gujarat. They are already 10 days behind schedule.

 

Farm industry officials have now pinned their hopes on a forecast by the India Meteorological Department that the monsoon is gradually turning very active and likely to remain so at least until the end of the month.

 

Sowing of oilseeds as of Thursday is estimated at 452,000 hectares, down 42 percent from 783,000 a year earlier, according to the latest data collated by the federal government. That is mainly due to slow progress in plantings of groundnut and soybean.

 

Monsoons are crucial for the summer-sowing of crops because 60 percent of India's farmlands aren't irrigated. Monsoon rains haven't advanced northwards in the last four days.

 

"Rains have been delayed so far but the scenario may change in the next 10 days and sowing of oilseeds will then accelerate," said B.V. Mehta, executive director of Solvent Extractors Association, a lobby group of local edible oils traders, importers and manufacturers.

 

A major concern this week has been the progress of groundnut plantings in Gujarat, already reeling under a shift towards cotton last year.

 

India's overall sowing of groundnut, as of Thursday, is estimated at 253,000 hectares, down from 317,000 hectares in the previous year.

 

Groundnut is a very delicate crop that needs a timely supply of water, and farmers may avoid taking a risk with groundnut and plant other crops instead if rains are deficient, said Govindbhai G. Patel, managing partner in Dipak Enterprise, a Gujarat-based edible oils trading and importing firm.

 

Gujarat produces close to a third of India's groundnut output, according to industry estimates. The federal government pegs it even higher, at more than 40 percent.

 

According to the India Meteorological Department, the monsoons usually reach Gujarat around June 13 or June 14, but this year the main rainfall belt is likely to move towards the province only between Saturday and Tuesday.

 

Patel said if the monsoon rains arrive on schedule, groundnut planting usually begins in earnest by June 20.

 

Sowing of soybeans is estimated at 24,000 hectares, down from 101,000 hectares a year earlier.

 

Nevertheless, government and industry officials are so far not too concerned with the delay in soybean plantings.

 

An agriculture ministry official said it is too early to gauge an impact of delayed monsoons on most crops, including soybean, as plantings started in several regions only a week ago.

 

"At this point of time, (the delay) is not a cause of worry because plantings of soybean go on until the second week of July," said Rajesh Agarwal, spokesman for the Soybean Processors Association of India.

 

He said that rains have taken place in some parts of soybean-producing areas and that the monsoon is expected to set in anytime now.

 

He said it is anticipated that the total area of the crop will increase in 2007 because of remunerative prices for farmers last year.

 

Only plantings of cotton are higher, at 1.52 million hectares, up from 1.47 million hectares, because the crop requires less water compared with rice and sugarcane.

 

Planting of rice between May 1 and Friday is estimated at 2.31 million hectares, down from 2.33 million hectares in the year-earlier period.

 

In India, summer-sown crops are planted between May and September for harvest from October onwards.

 

Sowing of corn is also lower at 478,000 hectares, compared with 559,300 hectares a year earlier.

 

Sugarcane plantings have fallen to 4.4 million hectares so far in 2007 from 4.54 million hectares in the previous year.

 

The government didn't give any reason for the decline in cane acreage but sugar industry officials say India will witness a shift in area towards other crops in the next two years. They say this shift is likely due to the low price of sugar and lower ability of mills to pay growers for their cane.

 

Scientists are unfazed so far by the delay in plantings of summer sown crops, and they point out that rains in the week that ended Wednesday (June 20) have been much better than the previous two weeks when they were deficient.

 

"Monsoon is currently consolidating in areas which have already been covered by the system and is likely to be very active until June 30," said K.J. Ramesh, director, department of science of technology.

 

Monsoon rains haven't moved northwards since Monday, but Ramesh said this isn't a matter of concern because an atmospheric depression has formed near the Bay of Bengal, which will move west-northwest in the next few days, carrying monsoon rains to the regions through which it passes.

 

Separately, an official of India Meteorological Department said rains in the week to Wednesday are estimated at 51 millimetres, around 33.15 percent above normal.

 

Rains so far in the monsoon season that formally started June 1 are estimated at 87.8 millimetres, around 1.68 percent below normal.