New Delhi, April 27 (ANI): Earth Sciences and Science and Technology Minister S Jaipal Reddy has said the country can expect to have a normal monsoon this year with an overall rainfall of 98 per cent.
"I have very good news for farmers. As per Indian Meteorological Department's long range forecast, this year South West monsoon is most likely to be normal," Reddy told media here.
This is the fourth straight year that the government has forecast normal monsoon.
Reddy said there was 46 per cent probability of a normal monsoon as against 27 per cent probability of below normal rains this season.
"Quantitatively, monsoon season rainfall is likely to be 98 per cent of the long period average (LPA) with a model error of five per cent," he said.
The Monsoon is crucial for the kharif crops such as rice, soyabean, cotton and maize because almost 60 per cent of the farm land in the country is rainfed.
The Director General of the IMD, L.S. Rathore, said El Nino, an ocean current which influences the monsoon pattern in India, is also neutral, and would not have an adverse affect on monsoon circulation.
He said that he is hopeful that monsoon is going to be normal over most parts of India, and added that a final call will be taken in June.
The South West monsoon steered the country away from a drought last year thanks to rainfall picking up in August and the first half of September.
The country had received 92 per cent rainfall, seven per cent less than the forecast.
Food Minister K V Thomas has also said that South Western Monsoon is expected to be "satisfactory", except in the southern tip of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
He noted that food production will be comfortably good in the coming year and wheat production will be as it was in the last year. (ANI)
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