- India’s monsoon rains have reached Maharashtra, extending from the southern region.
- The rains are crucial for economic growth in Asia’s third-largest economy.
- Advisors recommend that farmers wait for proper soil moisture levels before sowing summer crops.
According to two senior weather officials, India’s monsoon rains have advanced into the western state of Maharashtra after covering almost all of the southern region. However, they indicated that the rains could weaken and deliver lower-than-normal rainfall next week.
Summer rains, critical to spurring economic growth in Asia’s third-largest economy, typically commence in the south around June 1 before spreading nationwide by mid-July, enabling farmers to plant crops such as rice, corn, cotton, soybeans, and sugarcane.
A senior India Meteorological Department (IMD) official informed Reuters that the monsoon arrived in Maharashtra on Thursday after spreading through the southern states earlier than usual. Maharashtra stands as India’s biggest producer of sugar and its second-largest producer of cotton and soybeans.
According to the IMD, India has received 7 percent more rainfall than normal since the season began on June 1. Another weather official said that the monsoon will advance further across India in the next few days but could weaken from next week.
“The monsoon will pause for a few days,” the official added. “Except for the west coast, most other regions will receive less rain,” the official added.
The official stated that farmers need to wait for proper moisture levels in the soil before sowing summer crops and should not sow them hastily. Both officials sought anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
The monsoon, the lifeblood of the nearly $ 3.5 trillion economy, brings nearly 70 percent of the rain India needs to water farms and refill reservoirs and aquifers.
Without irrigation, nearly half of the farmland in the world’s second-biggest producer of rice, wheat, and sugar depends on the annual rains that typically run from June to September.
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