Reuters: Indian farmers’ hopes for bumper crops following this year’s abundant monsoon rains were dashed by heavy downpours just before harvest that damaged their fields, crushing the dreams of millions who rely solely on agriculture for their livelihoods.
The losses to crops such as cotton and soybean are expected to slow agricultural growth, boost farmers’ debt and cap rural consumption, which had been set to rise after New Delhi slashed taxes on hundreds of consumer items.
“We had hoped to harvest 10 to 12 quintals of soybean per acre, but now we’ll be lucky to get 2 to 3 quintals — and even that will require significant additional expenses,” said farmer Kishore Hangargekar, using a unit equivalent to 100kg (220 lb).
He was speaking after two days of unrelenting rain flooded his fields and submerged his crops in the district of Dharashiv in the western state of Maharashtra.
Until then, the soybean crop had been thriving, and farmers were readying for harvest.
The reduction in yields from excessive rainfall is likely to halve agricultural growth to 3 percent to 3.5 percent in the December quarter, down from 6.6 percent a year earlier, said Garima Kapoor, economist at Mumbai-based Elara Securities.
Summer-sown crops such as soybean, cotton, rice, pulses and vegetables mature from September, a month that saw rains of 15 percent above average this year, with some regions getting as much as 115 percent more than normal.
While agriculture contributes just 18 percent to India’s economy of nearly $4 trillion, almost half its population of 1.4 billion relies on farming to earn a living.
