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More rains in India but not enough for groundnut

India's groundnut-growing western state of Gujarat received some rain as the southwest monsoon advanced, but traders said on Tuesday the showers were not yet sufficient to improve crop conditions.

Weather officials said this week the four-month monsoon rains which run from June to September have revived after a weak phase. Farmers and traders drew hope from the rainfall over the weekend and forecasts of more rains over the next few days.

"There have been isolated rains in Gujarat's Saurashtra region and it should receive light to moderate rains in the next few days," an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) at Ahmedabad said.

Saurashtra, the state's key groundnut growing area, has had no rains in past 10 to 12 days.

"This rainfall is not enough. What we need is a good rainfall for at least few hours in most areas," one vegetable oil trader said from Rajkot, the region's main town.

Monsoon arrived over the southern state of Kerala early in June and moved to the western parts of the country, but its progress in northwestern India has been erratic.

Monsoon is vital to India's economic health as agriculture contributes 25 per cent to the country's gross domestic product and employs some 70 per cent of its more than one billion population.

Cloud Mass

"There is a cloud mass over the west central Bay, off the Andhra coast which is helping the weather conditions. These are positive signals," H R Hatwar, a senior IMD official, said.

He said similar weather will prevail over most parts of the country until Friday.

Though the rains have resumed, officials say they are not heavy enough to reverse the country's worst drought in a decade.

Several crops in key grain-bowl states have been hit by lack of rain and 12 states have so far declared either part or all of their territory drought-affected.

The weather office has said 382 of the country's 523 districts have received scanty or deficient rainfall in the first two months of the monsoon season.

The subdued monsoon has hit reservoir levels, with water in the 70 main reservoirs about 18 per cent of full capacity. Present water storage is 45 per cent of last year's levels and 40 per cent of the average of the last 10 years, officials said.

Oilseeds shortfall

Any shortfall in India's winter oilseed output is likely to increase its dependence on imported oils. Groundnut and soybean are the country's main winter oilseed crops.

Prospects for soybean have improved after rain in the last few days in the main producing central regions. India grows around five million tonnes of winter groundnut, with Gujarat accounting for nearly half of the output.

"There have been heavy clouds for the last few days but not much rainfall. The groundnut crop is okay now, if it rains this week the crop will be saved," said Vinod Patel, a trader in the town of Junagarh, where groundnut is cultivated.

Weather officials said rains lashed some parts of northwestern Rajasthan and the monsoon was forecast to move towards the desert areas of the state which have received no rains in the past two months.

"Some soybean-growing areas of Kota got good rains which might lead to resowing of the crop," a Rajasthan government official said from state capital Jaipur.

Northern Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana states also had isolated rainfall, but too little to help the withering rice crop, traders said.

Agriculture ministry officials said so far only 15.9 million hectares in the country have been covered with rice, compared with 23.4 million at the same time last year.

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