MONSOON WATCH Surinder Sud / New Delhi July 18, 2008, 0:51 IST Weighed down by uneven distribution of rains, kharif sowing prospects look uncertain. The southern peninsula is nearly 34 per cent short of rains and the situation in Maharashtra and parts of Gujarat and Rajasthan isn't too encouraging either. This has jeopardised the outlook for several crops, including oilseeds, especially groundnut, pulses, notably tur (arhar), cotton and plantations. In fact, paddy and sugarcane can also be adversely affected if the conditions do not improve soon. Sowing has gathered momentum elsewhere, though early rains are reported to have damaged the quality of some fruits such as mango. The water stock in the country's major irrigation reservoirs, though below last year's level, is still higher than the long period average. The availability of key farm inputs is also said to be comfortable. The demand for inputs is reported to be relatively higher this year due to the favourable commodity price scenario and better price realisation in the last rabi marketing season. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has estimated the cumulative monsoon rainfall till July 15 at 319.1 mm, which is about 6 per cent above normal. However, it has not been evenly distributed in all the regions. Indeed, as many as 14 of the country's total 36 meteorological sub-divisions have remained rain-starved till now with deficiency ranging from 21 to 64 per cent. These are (deficiency in brackets): Kerala (- 44 per cent); south-interior Karnataka (- 29 per cent); north interior Karnataka (- 48 per cent); coastal Karnataka (- 28 per cent); Rayalaseema (- 49 per cent); Telangana (- 31 per cent); coastal Andhra Pradesh (- 32); Vidarbha (-34 per cent); Marathwada (- 64 per cent); Madhya Maharashtra (- 41 per cent); Gujarat region (- 21 per cent); Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura (- 21 per cent); Assam and Meghalaya (- 28 per cent); and Lakshadweep (- 21 per cent). What is worse, the monsoon outlook for next week does not hold much promise for the worst affected regions. The department has projected subdued monsoons to continue in the central, western and peninsular India. However, in areas where the rains have been normal, farm operations have been going on smoothly. The reports on crop sowing received by the agriculture ministry from states till July 11 indicate that the total area already planted with paddy, coarse cereals such as maize and bajra and pulses such as urad and mung is larger than the last year's corresponding position. But the sowing of cotton has suffered a setback, especially in Maharashtra. Sugarcane acreage is down by about 18 per cent due to diversion of area to crops such as paddy and oilseeds. Among the oilseeds, soybean sowing has been excellent, with 23 per cent higher area coverage recorded so far. But groundnut sowing has fallen by 5.6 per cent. In pulses, the sowing of the main kharif pulse crop of tur is lagging behind last year's level though the coverage under other pulses, such as mung and urad, is almost similar to last year's.