The agricultural scenario continues to be buoyant though the monsoon has slackened considerably in August.

While the cumulative rainfall in July was 7 per cent above normal, it plummeted to 14 per cent below normal in the first fortnight of August.

However, the subdued monsoon has been welcomed by farmers, who were worried about damage to young crop plants, other than paddy, due to excessive moisture and likely emergence of pests and diseases due to the unabated humid weather.

The relative lull in monsoon activity has also allowed crop seeding to pick up.

Consequently, sowing of most crops is nearing completion, while that of paddy is more than two-thirds complete. The water level in reservoirs continues to rise, though the rate of recharge has decelerated marginally.

According to weather data for June 1 to August 13, as many as 31 of the 36 meteorological sub-divisions received normal or above normal rainfall.

However, the first week of August witnessed deficient rainfall in 10 sub-divisions, with cumulative precipitation in the country being 12 per cent below normal.

The downtrend in monsoon precipitation accentuated further in the second week of August, when the number of sub-divisions experiencing deficient rainfall rose to 19, with 6 of them reporting scanty showers.

The north recorded deficient rainfall for the first time this season during the period.

For Kerala and Karnataka, on the other hand, it was a continuation of the trend that began with the onset of the monsoon.

The Karnataka government has resorted to artificial cloud seeding to augment precipitation, though it is yet to show results.

The decrease in rainfall has, as expected, led to a deceleration in the rate of filling of reservoirs though, on the whole, the water level continues to rise.

Live storage in the 70 major reservoirs monitored regularly by the Central Water Commission was estimated at 48.29 billion cubic metres on August 8, against 41.4 bcm on August 1, an increase of 7 per cent.

This is about 80 per cent above last year's corresponding level, but about 25 per cent below the last 10 years' average.

Reports received by the agriculture ministry from states indicate that the sowing of coarse cereals, pulses and oilseeds is almost over, while that of paddy is in full swing. The planting of commercial crops like cotton, sugarcane, jute and mesta was over by July-end.

Crop sowing data reported by the states indicate that the net sown area this kharif may be higher than the long period average.

Many crops, notably pulses, soyabean and maize, have already been sown on areas much larger than normal for these crops.

Till August 11, kharif pulses had been planted on 12.5 million hectares, against the long period normal area of 10.4 million hectares.

Thus, these crops have already gained about 20 per cent additional acreage this year. This figure may rise further as sowing of tur (arhar), a major kharif pulses, is still on in some pockets.

Similarly, the area under maize is reported to have exceeded the normal by over 8.5 per cent.

This coarse grain, an important raw material for the poultry and starch industries, had been sown on about 6.4 million hectares till last week, against the normal of 5.9 million hectares.

The area under soyabean, which has overtaken groundnut to emerge as the largest cultivated kharif oilseed, was estimated at about 6.7 million hectares till August 11, around 6 per cent higher than the normal of 6.3 million hectares.

Its sowing is complete in the major soyabean bowl of Madhya Pradesh though it is continuing in some pockets of Maharashtra and Rajasthan.