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| The agricultural scenario continues to be buoyant though the monsoon has slackened considerably in August.
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| While the cumulative rainfall in July was 7 per cent above normal, it plummeted to 14 per cent below normal in the first fortnight of August.
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| However, the subdued monsoon has been welcomed by farmers, who were worried about damage to young crop plants, other than paddy, due to excessive moisture and likely emergence of pests and diseases due to the unabated humid weather. The relative lull in monsoon activity has also allowed crop seeding to pick up.
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| Consequently, sowing of most crops is nearing completion, while that of paddy is more than two-thirds complete. The water level in reservoirs continues to rise, though the rate of recharge has decelerated marginally.
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| According to weather data for June 1 to August 13, as many as 31 of the 36 meteorological sub-divisions received normal or above normal rainfall.
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| However, the first week of August witnessed deficient rainfall in 10 sub-divisions, with cumulative precipitation in the country being 12 per cent below normal.
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| The downtrend in monsoon precipitation accentuated further in the second week of August, when the number of sub-divisions experiencing deficient rainfall rose to 19, with 6 of them reporting scanty showers.
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| The north recorded deficient rainfall for the first time this season during the period. For Kerala and Karnataka, on the other hand, it was a continuation of the trend that began with the onset of the monsoon.
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| The Karnataka government has resorted to artificial cloud seeding to augment precipitation, though it is yet to show results.
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| The decrease in rainfall has, as expected, led to a deceleration in the rate of filling of reservoirs though, on the whole, the water level continues to rise.
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| Live storage in the 70 major reservoirs monitored regularly by the Central Water Commission was estimated at 48.29 billion cubic metres (bcm) on August 8, against 41.4 bcm on August 1, an increase of 7 per cent.
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This is about 80 per cent above last year
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