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Good news for agriculture! Monsoon hits Kerala, says Met department; normal rainfall predicted

The Southwest Monsoon has hit most parts of Kerala and some parts of Tamil Nadu on Tuesday, three days before its scheduled arrival, the India Meteorological Department said.

Good news for agriculture! Monsoon hits Kerala, says Met department; normal rainfall predicted
The Southwest Monsoon has hit most parts of Kerala and some parts of Tamil Nadu, says MET department

The Southwest Monsoon has hit most parts of Kerala and some parts of Tamil Nadu on Tuesday, three days before its scheduled arrival, the India Meteorological Department said. This marks the arrival of the rainy season in the country. The MET department has said that the monsoon arrival may advance to parts of northeastern states and Karnataka in the next 48 hours.

Since nearly half of India’s farmland, without any irrigation cover, depends on annual June-September rains to grow a number of crops, a good monsoon brings good news for the agricultural sector. Monsoon delivers nearly 70% of rains that India needs to water farms and recharge reservoirs and aquifers. Timely rains trigger planting of crops such as rice, soybeans and cotton.

Skymet, a private weather forecasting agency and a rival of the IMD, had said that the monsoon made its arrival in Kerala on Wednesday. The IMD department in April predicted that there will be 97% normal monsoon for the year 2018-19, which could be a good news for the rural economy that suffered due to the twin impact of drought years and demonetisation. This year will be the third year for the normal monsoon with very less chance of rain deficit, IMD said in its first forecast of Monsoon 2018. The second assessment of Monsoon is expected in early June.

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First published on: 29-05-2018 at 11:49 IST
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