New Delhi: The El Nino weather pattern is likely to dissipate by early August, giving way to La Nina, two top officials of the weather department said on Tuesday, swelling already bountiful monsoon rains that are crucial for the farm sector.
The country is almost halfway through its four-month monsoon season and plentiful rains so far have lifted farmers' hopes of a revival in output and incomes after the El Nino weather phenomenon led to two straight years of drought.
El Nino is a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific, causing dry weather in some parts of the world and floods in others.
A weakening El Nino is likely to give way to La Nina, characterised by unusually cold ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, the officials said.
"Global factors of monsoon variability are set to confirm our prediction of above-average rains," one of the Indian Meteorological Department officials said, adding that La Nina could develop early next month.
A US government weather forecaster said last week that the La Nina weather phenomenon is favoured to develop during August through October.
Rains covered the whole of the country on July 13 and are 2 per cent above average since June 1, helping the steady planting of summer-sown crops such as sugarcane, cotton, rice and lentils.
The forecast of above-average rainfall needs to come to fruition if the country is to tame inflation and remain a net exporter of food products this year.
The country's rain-fed farms account for nearly 15 per cent of its $2 trillion (Rs 134 lakh crore approx) economy and more than three fifths of the people are dependent on agriculture.
The country is almost halfway through its four-month monsoon season and plentiful rains so far have lifted farmers' hopes of a revival in output and incomes after the El Nino weather phenomenon led to two straight years of drought.
El Nino is a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific, causing dry weather in some parts of the world and floods in others.
"Global factors of monsoon variability are set to confirm our prediction of above-average rains," one of the Indian Meteorological Department officials said, adding that La Nina could develop early next month.
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Rains covered the whole of the country on July 13 and are 2 per cent above average since June 1, helping the steady planting of summer-sown crops such as sugarcane, cotton, rice and lentils.
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The country's rain-fed farms account for nearly 15 per cent of its $2 trillion (Rs 134 lakh crore approx) economy and more than three fifths of the people are dependent on agriculture.
© Thomson Reuters 2016
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