Monsoon deficit to impact agriculture: Govt

New Delhi, May 22: Minister of State for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal today said as per India Meteorological Department's operational Long Range Forecast the South-West Monsoon rainfall over the entire country would be shortfall to the extent of 22 per cent.

Answering a question in the Rajya Sabha, Mr Sibal said shortfall in rains of various nature would adversely affect agricultural production.

''However, it is too early to say which states will be affected by shortfall of rains and how far cost/price of agricultural products will be affected as spatial and temporal distribution of Monsoon rainfall over different regions of the country cannot be predicted with the existing infrastructure of IMD'', he said.

There was no plan of invoking artificial rain by the Central Government, the minister said.

UNI