New Delhi: India’s annual monsoon rains have arrived at the southern Kerala coast, a top weather official said on Tuesday, brightening prospects of higher farm output by aiding farmers to plant summer-sown crops such as rice, soybean and cotton on time.
“It’s been raining in Kerala for the past few days, but the parameters suggest that the monsoon has arrived today,” B.P. Yadav, a director at the state-run India Meteorological Department (IMD) told Reuters.
The annual rains are crucial for farm output and economic growth as about 55% of the south Asian nation’s arable land is rain-fed, and farm sector accounts for about 15% of a nearly $2-trillion economy, Asia’s third-biggest.
India is the world’s second-biggest producer of rice, wheat, sugar and cotton and also one of the largest consumers, with a population of about 1.2 billion.
The IMD has forecast average rains in 2012, for the third straight year.
“We are sticking to our forecast of a normal monsoon,” Yadav said, adding, the IMD would review its forecast around 25 June after the rains cover half of the country.
The June-September rainy season starts over the Kerala coast and covers the rest of India and neighbouring countries Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal by mid-July.
Last week, weather officials said a cyclonic pressure over the Arabian Sea has delayed the rains, give or take 4 days, from its expected June 1 arrival date.
In 2011, the IMD had forecast the onset of monsoon on 31 May, but the rains arrived two days ahead of the estimate.
