India’s monsoon is expected to bring below-average rainfall to the country’s western and southern regions over the next fortnight, potentially slowing the sowing of cotton, soybeans, and corn.
Impact on Agriculture
The monsoon delivers about 70% of India’s annual rains to replenish crucial water sources in the nearly $4 trillion economy, where nearly half of farmland lacks irrigation and about half the population earns its livelihood from agriculture.
The sowing of summer crops like rice, cotton, corn, and soybeans has trailed last year’s pace due to weak June rainfall, with farmers planting 35 million hectares as of July 5, down 21% from a year earlier, farm ministry data showed.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
