Dry October spells rabi gloom

Making things worse is water levels in 91 major reservoirs. As on October 21, these were filled to only 58 per cent of their total storage capacity, as against last year’s corresponding level of 76 per cent and the last ten years’ average of 77 per cent. The reservoir water position is particularly poor in the Krishna, Godavari and Cauvery basins. Major reservoirs in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra such as Nagarjuna Sagar, Sriramsagar, Srisailam, Somasila, Malaprabha, Jayakwadi, Bhima, Girna and Khadakvasla have less than 33 per cent water relative to their live storage capacity.

The combination of poor rains and low reservoir level does not augur well for the rabi crop, the plantings of which have just begun. The kharif crop’s failure due to dry weather in August and September had led farmers in many parts to pin their hopes on the rabi season and go in for early sowing. But with hardly any rains in October either, even this crop faces threat of moisture stress.

The hope currently is from Northeast monsoon rains that have commenced over Tamil Nadu, Kerala and the adjoining areas of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, and also developing western disturbances. The Met Department has forecast showers across peninsular India and parts of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand in the coming days. The lower temperatures accompanying these should help boost rabi sowings.

The main rabi season crops are wheat, mustard, chana, masur, onion, potato and also — though these are largely grown during kharif — maize, groundnut, urad and moong. From a consumer perspective, a good rabi crop of pulses and onion would help cooling the price spiral in these commodities that aren’t easily importable.

The Centre, meanwhile, is yet to announce the minimum support prices for the current rabi season crops, despite sowing already underway. A substantial increase in the MSPs of chana and masur would encourage farmers to expand area under these crops, which is in consumer interest as well.