Monsoon arrives in Maharashtra 10 days early; experts concerned about agri produce
The last time the monsoon arrived early in May over Maharashtra was on May 28, 2006.
The early monsoon arrival over the state could threaten sowing of the Kharif crop, said agriculture experts. "It is bound to disturb the sowing cycle," an official said.
S D Sanap, senior IMD scientist in Pune, told TOI: "Conditions are now conducive for further progress of the monsoon over Pune and Mumbai in the next three days. Since 1960, the monsoon has arrived over the state in May seven times, including this year.
In 1990, the monsoon arrived on May 20, which was the earliest in the last 65 years."
This year, the monsoon onset over Kerala (on May 24), which marks the beginning of the four-month rainy season in India, was the earliest since 2009, when it set in over the state on May 23.
The IMD officials said conditions are favourable for the further advance of the southwest monsoon into some more parts of the central Arabian Sea, some more parts of Maharashtra including Mumbai, Karnataka including Bengaluru, some parts of Andhra Pradesh, remaining parts of Tamil Nadu, some more parts of the west-central and North Bay of Bengal, and some more parts of the northeastern states during the next three days.
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"The low-pressure system over the Arabian Sea has been influencing the state weather conditions for the last few days. There is a possibility of the formation of another system over the Bay of Bengal on May 27. This system is expected to strengthen monsoon progress further. Therefore, the state will continue to receive rainfall for the next few days," added Sanap.
Steady showers drenched several places in Maharashtra, particularly the coastal Konkan area and parts of Madhya Maharashtra belt that stretches from Nashik in the north to Kolhapur in the south, with Pune at the centre.
In fact, the eight districts of the Marathwada region have already recorded 132mm of pre-monsoon rain since May 1, which is 1,030% more than avg rainfall for the month. This has resulted in rivers in spate and major dams like Jayakwadi receiving inflows.
A senior agriculture officer said: "The early arrival of the monsoon has disturbed the Kharif sowing plan and cycle, and there is no immediate break from the monsoon.
It will go on till the first week of June, and new weather systems will further complicate or disturb the Kharif season work."
The situation has worsened for those farmers whose summer crops are still in the farm. Most farmers have sown bajra, jowar, groundnuts, and vegetables. "These crops have been damaged badly. The continuous rainfall in the next few days will make the situation more complicated. We fear that farmers will incur a loss of 60-70% of the harvest if the rainfall does not stop," said another agriculture officer.
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