Click to play videoNew Delhi: With delayed monsoons India might have to suffer a major agriculture crisis. Over 60 per cent of Indian agriculture is rain fed and over 70 per cent of the people depend on land for their livelihood.
The delayed and deficient monsoons may send food stocks plummeting and may put at risk the livelihood of millions of farmers.
Madhya Pradesh is grappling with a rainfall deficiency of a staggering 92 per cent, Chhattisgarh 91 per cent, Marathwada 82 per cent, Saurashtra 100 per cent, Orissa 43 per cent, Jharkhand 54 per cent, Bihar 81 per cent and Uttar Pradesh is facing a deficit of 85 per cent.
The crucial food producing state of Punjab is deficient by 68 per cent and even Kerala, where rains arrived before time, is experiencing a rain deficit of 35 per cent.
This is a bad news for India which is looking at increasing food production especially now that it has decided to implement the right to food act. And even though there are hopes that the deficit may be made good by a late monsoon burst, significant damage has already been done.
“Eighty per cent of Indian farmers are small farmers and now their crops have been destroyed and now they have to again sow. They don’t have that kind of a money to do that,” says Agricultural Economist, Devinder Sharma.
However the met department has not given up hope. Pointing to 2005 where the month of June showed an overall deficit of 59 per cent, they say that this year (2009) is just showing a deficit of 43 per cent.
“We need to seriously worry if monsoons don’t revive by June 25,” says India Meteorological Department (IMD) Director General Ajit Tyagi.
The IMD is sending a daily monsoon update to various ministries within the Government of India. And the Government has also asked the states to be prepared with their contingency plans when they come to Delhi on June 25. The date is crucial because monsoons are expected to revive around this time.
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