India's monsoon improves while Kharif sowing remains significantly behind

Recent weeks have seen a marked improvement in India's monsoon, cutting the cumulative rainfall deficit to 15% below normal from 38% a week earlier. The week ended 8 July recorded 83.6 mm of rain against a normal of 57.5 mm, with 25 of the 36 meteorological subdivisions and nearly 49% of districts receiving normal or excess rainfall.

Despite the rain recovery, Kharif crop sowing is 20.8% lower than a year ago. Oilseeds are down 39.3%, cotton 22.9%, pulses 21.8%, coarse cereals 16.4% and rice 13.1%; only sugarcane shows a modest 1.6% rise. In Maharashtra, sowing has reached 59% of the average area, still lagging behind 82% achieved the previous year, with uneven progress across divisions.

Reservoir storage has risen to 32.4% of total capacity, improving from the prior week but remaining 36% below the same period last year, though 7.5% above the ten‑year average. Authorities are urging farmers to await sustained rainfall before planting and are accelerating crop‑insurance and farm‑pond support to mitigate the risk of delayed sowing.