Rain Revival to Aid India Crops, Prime Minister Says

A revival in India's rains is aiding monsoon-sown crops and reserves of grains are sufficient to meet shortages from drought that has hit about half the country, said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
"Rains over the past week augur well for Kharif crop and have brought cheer to farmers," Singh said at a conference in New Delhi. Still, "most areas of the country will probably have deficient rainfall."
The worst start to the rainy season in eight decades caused drought in 278 of the country's 626 districts, damaging crops of rice, sugar cane and oilseeds. Raw sugar reached a 28-year high last week on speculation India, the biggest consumer, will boost imports to bolster supplies.
Planting of wheat and other winter-crops sown starting next month will begin earlier than usual this year to make up for the 10 million tons loss of rice, the government has said. Wheat may be sown in a record 28 million hectares this winter, Agriculture Commissioner N.B. Singh told reporters Sept. 4.
The government has bought a record 33 million tons of rice and more than 25 million tons of wheat from growers this season, according to the food ministry.
"We've had record production and procurement of grains in both 2007-08 and 2008-09," Singh said. "We have adequate food stocks and there's no cause for concern."
Rains this year may be 15 percent to 20 percent lower than the 50-year average, making it the weakest monsoon since 2002, Ajit Tyagi, director-general of India Meteorological Department, said in an interview Sept. 7. The rainfall deficit stood at 52 percent in June.