Monsoon Rainfall Deficit Widens to 10%: Weather Office

Mumbai: Monsoon rainfall deficit in the country has widened to 10 per cent as a strengthening El Nino weather pattern trimmed rainfall, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said, raising fears of the first drought in six years.

The June-September monsoon rains determine farmers' earnings as more than half of farm land lacks irrigation. Though agriculture accounts for about 15 per cent of India's $2-trillion economy, three-fifths of its 1.25 billion people depend on it for their livelihood.

The rainfall is likely to remain subdued even this week over most parts of the country, an official of the weather department said, raising concerns over output from summer-sown crops such as cotton, oil seeds, paddy and pulses.