July-August rains in India crucial for agriculture

New Delhi, June 26 (ANI): Union Agriculture Secretary T Nanda Kumar has said that rains in the months of July and August are very crucial in deciding India's agricultural output for this year.

Briefing the media persons after meeting with Agriculture Secretaries of various states here on Thursday, Kumar said that an action plan has been charted out to tackle any odd situation.

"We need to watch the rainfall in July and August carefully and if it is distributed in time and space, well without too many dry spells in between, we will still be able to achieve the agriculture production we achieved last year," he added.

The Agriculture Ministry has decided to issue advisories to farmers in the event of uneven rains. It was also decided that the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) would set up a dedicated help line backed by technical manpower to address any issues on crop development in different scenario.

In the review meeting, Secretaries of Agriculture Department of various states such as Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh participated.

These are the States where the peak sowing takes place in the last week of June and mid July.

The transplanting of rice in U.P., Bihar, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh continues till end of July The meeting was vital significance since the monsoon is expected to be below normal for the first time in four years which indeed has sounded like a blow to the overall slowing economy.

The Meteorological Department had mentioned that that rainfall received for the month of June has been 45 percent less than normal. (ANI)