Staring at acute water shortage, India witnesses driest June in 5 years

If the rains don’t enhance over the subsequent two to three weeks, India ought to be facing a crisis that hammers harvests and rural demand, analysts said
India had its driest June in 5 years because monsoon rains had been delayed, the climate department stated late on Sunday, raising fears for vegetation and the broader economy.
Overall, the monsoon rains were a 1/3 decrease than average, though, in some states inclusive of the sugar cane growing northern nation of Uttar Pradesh, they were as plenty as 61 per cent lower, statistics from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) showed.
About 55% of India’s arable land is rain-fed, and agriculture makes up about 15% of Asia’s third-largest economy, which is already suffering a slowdown.
If the rains don’t enhance over the next two to three weeks, India ought to be facing a disaster that hammers harvests and rural demand, analysts said. Companies that promote the whole lot from tractors to fertilisers to customer goods to farmers would be vulnerable.
Farmers had planted crops on 14.7 million hectares as on June 28, down almost 10% from the previous year, the farm ministry’s records showed.