Shortage of drinking water and loss of crops likely as monsoon fails to bring rains
Village women collecting water from a tube well at Bhamasar village, west of Ahmedabad, on Thursday. This monsoon season may be India's driest in seven years. -- PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW DELHI: India's Farm Minister has warned that the severe shortage of monsoon rains in India has created a critical situation for rural livelihood, drinking water and crops.
The government expects early sowing of winter-sown crops over a larger area this year to offset some of the crop loss, but the farm situation remains disturbing,
'The situation is grim, not just for crop sowing and crop health, but also for sustaining animal health, providing drinking water, livelihood and food, particularly for the small and marginal farmers and landless labourers,' Mr Sharad Pawar told a conference of state farm ministers yesterday.
He said the authorities must help farmers plant alternative crops and provide food, fodder, drinking water and employment to people, particularly in the drought-hit districts.
'At this critical stage, we need to assess the current situation correctly,' he said.
Mr Pawar said efficient use of irrigation and judicious use of ground water and reservoirs were necessary.
Official data shows that India's main reservoirs rose barely one percentage point last week and stood at 38 per cent of total capacity, down from 58 per cent a year ago.
The rains improved in the past week, recording the highest rainfall in a month, but the rains were not evenly spread out.
Rainfall in cane-growing Uttar Pradesh state was 58 per cent to 89 per cent higher than normal in the week to Wednesday, while the soya bean-growing Madhya Pradesh state saw a deficit of 24 per cent to 31 per cent, the weather office said.
The monsoon season, which brings about three-quarters of the nation's annual rainfall, may be the driest in seven years, with more than a third of the nation's 626 districts declaring drought, the weather bureau said last week.
Inadequate rainfall has affected oilseeds and cane crops, potentially making the country an even bigger importer of sugar and edible oils next year.
Sugar prices have risen sharply in India as output has fallen and the cane crop has declined for two consecutive years, helping raw sugar futures surge to the highest in nearly three decades.
A sugar trade body said millers have contracted 4 million tonnes of raw sugar imports to meet demand, particularly in the festival season starting next month. High prices and fears of scarcity have led to hoarding in the world's largest consumer of sugar.
'Higher prices are not dampening demand. Media reports have created panic among consumers. People who used to buy 5kg of sugar every month, they are now buying 10kg,' said Bombay Sugar Merchants Association secretary Mukesh Kuvadia.
Mr Pawar said India's monsoon-sown rice production will drop by 10 million tonnes from last year's record as inadequate rains forced farmers to plant fewer hectares of the crop.
Rice was sown to 24.7 million hectares as of Aug 12, compared with 30.4 million hectares a year earlier, the farm ministry said last week.
Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said the Cabinet had approved a higher price for rice purchased by government agencies to ensure adequate supplies and to help farmers lift their incomes after drought damaged other crops.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said this week that the government is planning a crackdown on the hoarding of farm commodities and imposing limits on what stock traders can keep.
'Effective enforcement actions and other steps would be taken to ensure that the prices of commodities do not rise abnormally,' Mr Pawar said.
REUTERS, BLOOMBERG
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