BHUBANESWAR: Amidst a June rainfall deficit of 72 per cent sparking apprehensions for the farm sector, the southwest monsoon arrived in Odisha, touching southern parts of the state on Thursday. After a delay of about 11 days, the Bay of Bengal branch of the monsoon advanced to Malkangiri, Gajapati and Koraput districts. The rain-bearing system normally arrives in Odisha on June 11.
Though the advancement of monsoon brought in rains and much-needed relief from an unprecedented heat wave, its consistency will have a large bearing on the farming community. While preliminary agricultural activities have been hampered, July will be crucial.
As many as 23 districts of the state have recorded large deficient rainfall (60 pc or more) between June 1 and 22. Against a normal rainfall of 138 mm, the state received 38 mm of rain during the period. A poor monsoon in the remaining days of the month and July may hamper rice sowing.
In Balangir, Boudh, Sonepur and Nuapada districts, the rainfall deficit has been in the of 92 pc-97 pc range. Bargarh which happens to be the rice bowl of the state is reeling under an 85 per cent rainfall scarcity. Seven more districts are in the range of 20 per cent to 59 per cent rainfall shortage.
Odisha comes under the core monsoon zone and receives 1,150 mm of rainfall between June and September. The normal rainfall in June is 209.3 mm, followed by 341.4 mm in July, 363.8 mm in August and 235.7 mm in September. With the arrival of monsoon showers, the met officer advised farmers to commence agricultural activities but cautioned against lightning.
Meanwhile, with the monsoon’s arrival, Bhubaneswar received 93 mm on the day. Jagatsinghpur recorded 64.3 mm of rainfall, Angul 38 mm and Gopalpur 36 mm, while Cuttack received 16.4 mm of rainfall.
“South-west monsoon is expected to advance into the entire state in the next two days,” said Director of Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre HR Biswas.
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Due to the advancement of the monsoon, the met office also forecasts widespread rainfall during the next four to five days. “The cyclonic circulation over west-central and adjoining north-west Bay of Bengal off north Andhra Pradesh-south Odisha coasts assisted the advancement of the south-west monsoon,” said Umasankar Das, a scientist at Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre.