Monsoon ends with deficit this year, but sets ground for record harvest

Rain during the southwest monsoon this year has ended with a shortfall of 9.4 per cent of the average, which, in the normal course, could have been enough reason to declare 2018 a “drought-” or “deficient-rainfall” year.

However, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has stopped using the word “drought” since 2015 and now classifies a year in which cumulative rain is 10 per cent less than the Long Period Average as a “deficient-monsoon” year.

This year is different in many ways. Though overall rains have been over 9 per cent below normal, it hasn’t led to a sharp drop in the area under kharif crops. And, if the government’s first advance estimate, released a few weeks ago, is to be believed, production this kharif season is expected to go up to an all-time high of more than 141 million tonnes.

The water content in 91 major reservoirs in the country is also at a healthy 122.51 billion cubic metres, 117 per cent of last year’s storage and 105 per cent of the last 10 years’ average.