‘Dry spells’ worry agriculture officials

May 25, 2013 - MANISH ANAND |

Age Correspondent

With the memory of the last year’s erratic monsoon still fresh, the government is keeping its fingers crossed over the prospect of this year’s rainy season, which is expected to set within a fortnight. Barring a Japanese agency, which has predicted a sub-normal monsoon, all other international agencies have so far put their bets on a normal rainy season.

While the monsoon is expected to arrive coastal areas of Kerala by the first week of June, the dry spells in large parts of the country is keeping the officials in the ministry of agriculture guessing. However, the secretary of the ministry of agriculture, Ashish Bahuguna, is of the view that there is no need as of now to press the panic button and takes comforts from the fact that there has been some good pre-Monsoon rains in the eastern India. “I have visited some of the eastern states and would be going to other states soon. There have been some rains in those parts of the country and we should wait for some time,” said Mr Bahuguna.

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