New Delhi:
Drought threat is looming large over north India. Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Jammu & Kashmir have received only half the normal amount of rain that they get by this time of the year.
In Uttar Pradesh, there has been no rain in 19 districts this year and in 54 districts there is a drought-like situation.
The weatherman has not given much hope. The Met department has predicted little rainfall in the next 10 days and the timing couldn't be worse for farmers who are depending on the rains for sowing their kharif crops.
There is rain deficit in Jammu, Amritsar
Jaipur, Jodhpur, Ahmedabad and Gwalior.
Temperatures are above normal and these areas are under threat of being drought hit.
Delayed monsoon impact
The delayed monsoon has clearly had an impact on agriculture, going by the government's own figures on the sharp fall in the areas covered by Kharif crops.
The area covered by the sowing of rice is 13.66 lakh hectares less than last year. The covered area of coarse cereals has also fallen, it is 29.94 lakh hectares less than last year.
The oilseed sowing area is also 33.18 lakh hectares less than the year before.