Photos: Generous monsoon rains accelerate India’s crop planting
Updated On Aug 03, 2020 11:05 AM IST
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.
1 / 7

Updated on Aug 03, 2020 11:05 AM IST
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)
2 / 7

Updated on Aug 03, 2020 11:05 AM IST
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)
3 / 7

Updated on Aug 03, 2020 11:05 AM IST
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)
4 / 7

Updated on Aug 03, 2020 11:05 AM IST
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)
5 / 7

Updated on Aug 03, 2020 11:05 AM IST
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)
6 / 7

Updated on Aug 03, 2020 11:05 AM IST
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)
7 / 7

Updated on Aug 03, 2020 11:05 AM IST