Central and State Agriculture Secretaries to discuss delay in monsoon

New Delhi, June 25 (ANI): Union Agriculture Secretary T Nanda Kumar will meet Agriculture Secretaries of states on Thursday to discuss the situation arising due to delayed monsoon.

Agriculture Secretaries of states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh will meet to consider measures to deal with the situation.n Wednesday, Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Prithiviraj Chavan has said that the Southwest Monsoon is likely to remain below normal level vis-à-vis the original prediction and conventional rainfall.

The second and revised forecast has predicted near-normal rainfall with 96 per cent rain of the long-term average, which the government officials say, may vary and even belie the hopes.

According to the Meteorological Department, there is a high probability of El Nino weather pattern this year.

El Nino, a weather condition marked by warming of the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean waters, can impede the progress of monsoon or even lead to a drought.

The June-September monsoon rains are very vital for the nation's economy, as two-thirds of the country's population depends on rain-fed agriculture in the absence of extensive modern irrigation facilities.

The news about below normal monsoon rains has upset the policy makers, who were upbeat about the bright prospects of the farm sector. (ANI)