Bulletin No.13/2012

August 23, 2012

Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture

Hyderabad

Status of monsoon and contingency plans for deficit/excess areas of the country

During the last one week good rainfall occurred in East Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Vidharbha, Chattisgarh, Punjab on Haryana.  The drought situation in Haryana and Punjab eased bringing the rainfall deficiency from -67% to -56% in Haryana and -63% to -58% in Punjab. In East Rajasthan,  heavy rainfall caused flooding damaging standing crops.  Still Saurashtra & Kutch is under scanty rainfall (-82%).  Stress conditions are again occurring in Marathwada due to prolonged dry spell.

Rajasthan

Heavy rainfall exceeding 200 mm occurred in 1-2 days in most parts of Eastern Rajasthan causing floods in Jaipur, Ajmer, Sikar, Sawai-Modopur and Jhun Jhunu.

·         In the eastern part of the state, farmers are advised to drain out excess water in standing crops.

·        In South Rajasthan top dressing of urea in maize and sorghum is recommended to take advantage of the abundant moisture available.

Marathwada

Despite good start of the season, Marathwada is now experiencing moderate drought conditons.  This region is mainly rainfed with cotton, soybean and sorghum as main crops. 

·         Only moisture conservation practices like mulching, intercultural and weeding are recommended to conserve the available moisture.

·         Farmers are advising to go for protective irrigation in standing kharif crops  whenever feasible.

Gujarat

The rainfall situation in Gujarat state as a whole has not changed much and Saurashtra & Kutch is still experiencing severe drought situation with scanty rainfall of -82%.    In this region sowing window for most crops is over and farmers are advised to go for fodder crops whenever rainfall revives.