Photos: Generous monsoon rains accelerate India’s crop planting

With the monsoon covering India two weeks earlier than usual, farmers have planted 14% more acreage than last year. The monsoon helped farmers plant more land of every single summer-sown crops between June 1 and July 31, including rice, corn, cane, cotton and soybean crops. Monsoon rains are critical for farm output and economic growth as about 55% of India's arable land is rain-fed. The India Meteorological Department has predicted that monsoon rains are expected to be 104% of the average in August and September this year.

Updated on: Aug 03, 2020 11:05 AM IST

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A farmer looks at the sky on an overcast day while standing in a paddy field in Bathinda, Punjab on July 30. According to the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, a rapid progress of the monsoon this year has helped Indian farmers plant nearly 14% more land than last year, Reuters reported. (Sanjeev Kumar / HT Photo)

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A farmer ploughs his cotton field in Paritala near Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh on August 1. Farmers planted more acreage of every single summer-sown crop between June 1 and July 31 than last year, brightening the prospects for a bumper output in the world’s leading producer of farm commodities. (PTI)

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Farmers work in a paddy field on the outskirts of Guwahati in Assam on July 30. The area planted with rice, the main food crop of the world’s second-most populous country, was 26.7 million hectares, compared with 22.4 million hectares in the year-earlier period, Reuters reported. (Anupam Nath / AP)

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A farmer plucks apples from a tree at an orchard in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh on August 1. The monsoon covered the entire country nearly two weeks earlier than usual, helping farmers speed up planting. (PTI)

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Farmers transplant paddy saplings in a field in Kochi, Kerala on July 29. Monsoon rains are critical for farm output and economic growth as about 55% of India’s arable land is rain-fed, Reuters reported. (PTI)

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A farmer seen at his newly sown field in Chhatarpur, Madhya Pradesh on July 30. The weather office on July 31 said monsoon rains are expected to be 104% of the average in August and September this year. (ANI)

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Farmers head to plant paddy saplings in Bhubaneswar, Odisha on August 1. The India Meteorological Department defines average, or normal, rainfall as between 96% and 104% of a 50-year average of 88 cm for the entire four-month season, Reuters reported. (ANI)