Monsoon rains ahead of schedule: MeT office

New Delhi: India's monsoon rains are a week ahead of schedule, powering across two-thirds of the country by June 14 and heavier than normal, but the weather office is sticking to its forecast for average rains during the entire four-month period.

Heavier than normal rains can trigger flooding but at this stage in the June to September season, they spur planting of crops. India's biggest concern is drought during a monsoon, with rains crucial for the 55 percent of farmland without irrigation.

The monsoon should cover the whole of India before the usual mid-July timing and their distribution over major crop-growing regions should be fairly even, BP Yadav, a director at the India Meteorological Department (IMD), said on Friday.

Rainfall is expected to be at 101 percent of the long-term average in July and 96 percent in August, two key months for the planting and maturing of crops.

The strong start to the June to September monsoon boosts prospects of robust farm output.

That could help the economy and hold down inflation, a critical concern for the coalition government as it readies for a round of state polls this year and a national ele

ction by May 2014.

India is one of the world's biggest producers and consumers of rice, sugar and other food agricultural commodities. A strong monsoon will underpin government confidence harvests will be ample to cover the extra grains needed for its plans for a $24 billion welfare scheme to give cheap food to more of its poor.

The weather office first forecast an average monsoon in April, before the season started, and the continuing absence of the El Nino weather pattern in the Pacific Ocean, which can cause droughts, played a part in its confirmation of that forecast on Friday.

The rains have also been ample over seven southern and western states, including major sugar producer Maharashtra, which were hit by drought last year and need plentiful and timely rain to assist a recovery.

© Thomson Reuters 2013

Himachal's apple basket bountiful this season

Shimla: There is good news for apple lovers this year as they can soon expect a good supply of the deep, crunchy crimson apples from Himachal Pradesh, the country's largest apple basket.

The state horticulture department estimates say the state is heading for a bumper apple production, the mainstay of the state's economy, after two consecutive years of less than normal yield.

"We are expecting a production of over 3.75 crore apple boxes (of 20 kg each) this season," Gurdev Singh, director of horticulture, said on Wednesday.

Last year, he said, over 2.04 crore boxes were harvested - 20 percent less than state's normal yield of 2.5 crore boxes - while it just 1.36 crore boxes in 2011.

In both the years, the reduced output was owing to adverse weather - extended winter and the fury of hailstorms when the crop was maturing.

Horticulture experts said plentiful snow in last winter and now good spells of rain have sufficiently increased the moisture content in the soil, which helped the plants obtain sufficient nutrients.

They say early varieties such as Red June, Summer Queen and Tydeman's Early Worcester, though inferior in quality, will start arriving in the markets by the end of July.

Superior grades like Royal Delicious, Red Chief, Super Chief, Oregon Spur and Scarlet Spur will start arriving by the middle of August and their harvesting will continue till November.

"There was some damage to the crop in the recent hailstorms and significant premature fruit dropping too, but overall the crop is healthy. At present, the fruit is in development stage," Gopal Mehta, a prominent apple and cherry grower of Kotgarh in upper Shimla, said.

He said most of the fruit crops in the state, including cherries, pears, peaches, apricots, almonds and plums, are heading to a bumper yield.

Upper Shimla areas, which account for 80 percent of the total apple production, have seen congenial weather with plentiful snow during winter.

Snow is considered white manure for apple orchards.

According to the meteorological office in Shimla, the entire apple belt has seen adequate rain even before the monsoon has set in.

"We are expecting the monsoon will arrive a week in advance," Manmohan Singh, director of the meteorological office here, said.

The monsoon normally hits the state by June 27.

Himachal Pradesh's apple industry, which is currently worth over Rs 2,000 crore, is credited to Satyanand (Samuel Evans Stokes Junior).

Satyanand, an American missionary, first introduced high quality apples in the Kothgarh-Thanedar belt in Shimla district in the early 1920s.

His daughter-in-law, Vidya Stokes, now state horticulture minister, manages most of the family's orchards.

IANS 

Normal monsoon expected in Karnataka

Bangalore: The southwest monsoon is expected to be normal this season across Karnataka due to favourable atmospheric conditions evident from excess rainfall during the last 10 days, a meteorological official said on Monday.

"The atmospherical conditions are good for normal monsoon this season, which will last till September," regional meteorological director B. Puttanna said.

"As the southwest monsoon had been active since it set in neighbouring Kerala and advanced into the coastal and south interior regions of the state, the rainfall had been above normal," he added.

Since June 1, the state has received 75 mm rainfall, which is 45 percent more than normal in the coastal districts and the Western Ghats region. Rains were also widespread in the south interior and north interior parts of the state.

"However, Chamarajnagar, Chickmagalur and Kodagu districts had less rain. If the monsoon remains active over the next couple of weeks, more rains are expected to make up for any deficit in isolated regions of the state," Puttanna said.

Deficit monsoon and a prolonged dry spell during the monsoon season last year led to severe drought in the state, resulting in water levels dipping to lowest in reservoirs and catchment areas.

"Indications so far are that monsoon rains will be normal this year with prospects of excess rainfall in coastal and the Western Ghats due to low pressure and positive wind movement," the official said.

With the monsoon setting in on time, farmers have taken up sowing operations in those areas where rains have been widespread and above normal.

"Sufficient quantities of seeds and fertilisers have been stocked in the districts for distribution to farmers. Sowing is in full swing in about 30 percent of the areas where rains have been widespread and the rest of the state will be covered by August as the monsoon advances into central and northern districts of the state," state Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said in the legislative assembly earlier Monday.

The state government has formed vigilant teams to check the quality of seeds and fertilisers and prevent sale of spurious seeds and other farm inputs.

IANS

Monsoon enters Andhra, to advance further

Hyderabad: The Southwest Monsoon on Monday entered Andhra Pradesh and is likely to advance in the next two to three days, says the met office.

The Monsoon has set in over parts of Rayalaseema region, said the state's disaster management department quoting the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).



The Monsoon, which touched Kerala coast on Saturday, has arrived in Andhra Pradesh two days in advance.

Many places in Rayalaseema and some parts of Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have been receiving rains since Sunday.

The IMD has forecast moderate to rather heavy rain or thundershowers at many places over Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema and at a few places over Telangana during the next 48 hours.

It has warned that heavy rain would occur at isolated places in the districts of Chittoor, Anantapur, Kurnool and Kadapa of Rayalaseema and Nellore, Prakasam, Guntur, Krishna, East and West Godavari of coastal Andhra Pradesh in the next 48 hours.

Officials said Tungabhadra river in Kurnool district was in spate due to heavy rains and in the upper reaches of Karnataka.

Five people were killed in thunderbolts in Guntur district in south Coastal Andhra on Sunday. Four were injured in lightning near Hyderabad.

Several parts of the state received rains last week under the impact of low pressure area over Bay of Bengal, providing relief from the intense heat.

According to officials, 524 people died due to heat across the state since April 1.

IANS 

Decoding 'orphan crop' genomes could save millions of lives in Africa

Howard-Yana Shapiro, a scientist with the Mars confectionery company, will make the information free to boost harvests

The future wellbeing of millions of Africans may rest in the unlikely hands of a vegan hippy scientist working for a sweet company who plans to map and then give away the genetic data of 100 traditional crops.
Howard-Yana Shapiro, the agriculture director of the $36bn US confectionery corporation Mars, led a partnership that sequenced and then published in 2010 the complete genome of the cacao tree from which chocolate is derived. He plans to work with American and Chinese scientists to sequence and make publicly available the genetic makeup of a host of crops such as yam, finger millet, tef, groundnut, cassava and sweet potato.
Dubbed "orphan crops" because they have been ignored by scientists, seed companies and governments, they are staples for up to 250 million smallholder African farmers who depend on them for food security, nutrition and income. However, they are considered of little economic interest to large seed and chemical companies such as Monsanto, Bayer and Syngenta, which concentrate on global crops such as maize, rice and soya.
According to Shapiro, there is huge potential to develop more resilient and higher-yielding varieties of most orphan crops by combining traditional plant breeding methods with new biotech tools such as "genetic marking". This does not involve the altering or insertion of genes that takes place with controversial genetic modification.
"The genetic information will be put on the web and offered free to plant breeders, seed companies and farmers on condition it is not patented. A new African plant-breeding academy will also be set up in Nairobi, Kenya," he said."It's not charity. It's a gift. Its an improvement of African agriculture. These crops will never be worked on by the big five [seed] companies. They don't see them as competition."
Shapiro, a leading plant scientist who founded organic seed company Seeds of Change but sold it to Mars in 1997, now cuts an idiosyncratic figure in the corporate food world, sporting a long beard and listing motorcycles as a favourite pastime. But he said that the culture of the family-owned corporation had advantages. "It took less than a nanosecond to decide not to patent. Ownership was not an issue," he said.
Shapiro is angered by the stunting caused by malnutrition that affects 30% of African children. By improving the crops, he said, the African orphan crop consortium, which includes corporations such as Life Technologies and the conservation group WWF, could eradicate a "plague" that costs Africa $125bn a year. "We will start with genomics, go to analysis, then to plant breeders, then to the field, then the seed companies, and then to the farms," he said.
Open-access publication of the cacao genome in 2010 is now bearing fruit. The genes that determine resistance to fungal infections and yield have been found and a new generation of cacao trees is being grown which should eventually quadruple production. "We haven't changed a single gene. It's inheritability. It's all done with grafting."
But the "improved" seeds expected to come out of the $40m orphan programme could change Africa in unexpected ways. Nearly 80% of all seed used in Africa is selected, saved and exchanged by farmers without money changing hands. The result has been an immense diversity of crops suited to particular localities and cultures. The new, "improved" seeds of the orphan crops may increase yields or disease resistance but could be unaffordable and might oust traditional varieties. It is also possible that the genetic decoding could open the door to genetic modification.

Yam harvests could increase significantly as hardier varieties are developed.
"Anything that keeps the [genetic] information out of proprietary hands is a good thing. But it's important to maintain the traditional varieties that have not been 'improved' and to keep a non-monetised path for the farming economy," said Camilla Toulmin, director of the International Institute for Environment and Development in London. "It's important to recognize improvements in crops are not just about genetics. How plants are managed is equally important."Agricultural investment in Africa will be a key point at the G8 hunger summit in Northern Ireland next weekend. Governments and 45 of the largest agribusiness corporations are expected to unveil initiatives to boost African farming.
West and east African small farmers' groups have joined British charities to say that small-scale family farmers were being excluded from the talks even though they feed 80% of Africans. "It's very important that governments prioritise investment to support family farmers and their more ecological food production," said Patrick Mulvany, chair of the UK Food group.
"Technological advances in food production can be part of the solution to increase yields. But the world already grows enough food yet one in eight people go hungry every day. G8 leaders can begin to tackle the scandal of global hunger by closing the tax loopholes, improving land rights and increasing public investment in developing country agriculture," said Lucy Brinicombe, spokesperson for the If coalition of 200 groups which includes Oxfam and ActionAid.

Rs. 11,000 cr to improve drinking water supply in Hyderabad: Chief Minister

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Saturday said a sum of Rs. 11,000 crore would be spent in the next two years to improve drinking water supply in Hyderabad.

The Chief Minister laid the foundation-stone for the Rs. 1,670 crore Krishna phase-3 drinking water supply project at Vanasthalipuram in Hyderabad on Saturday.

Speaking on the occasion, he said Hyderabad was currently getting 1.6 tmc ft of drinking water every month, which would increase by 1.3 tmc ft once the Krishna phase-3 and Godavari drinking water projects were completed by the middle of next year.

"The Godavari water supply project, taken up at a cost of Rs. 3,700 crore, is fast progressing. Both these schemes will bring an additional 15 tmc ft of water to the twin cities per annum," he said.

The Chief Minister also laid the foundation-stone for a road-over-bridge at Tolichowki, to be built at a cost of Rs. 46 crore.

He also laid foundation-stone for four other development works worth a total of Rs. 109 crore.

"By creating such infrastructure, we will make Hyderabad the best city in the world," Kiran announced.

Union Minister of State for Highways Sarve Satyanarayana, state ministers J Geeta Reddy, D Sridhar Babu, D Nagender, MLAs and officials attended.

Met forecast: More rains than last year

Mysore: The monsoon forecast for the state is encouraging as it is likely get more rainfall this season than last year. While the rainfall during the monsoon, which is slated to set in after June 3 is likely to be  five per cent lesser than the average received by the state over the last 30 years, it had received 18.5 per cent lesser rainfall than average the last monsoon.

The Cauvery catchment areas of Mysore, Mandya and Chamarajnagar  too  could get only 10 per cent lesser rainfall than average when last year they had got 35 per cent lesser, going by senior meteorologist and professor and head  of  Agro Meteorology at the University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK,  M. G. Rajegowda.

The state which receives 72 per cent of its annual average rainfall of 1190mm during the South West Monsoon, could fall short of this by five per cent this year, according to him. “The monsoon which will set in by June first week will last till October second week and it is anticipated that from June to September the state will receive an average of 197mm, 293mm, 205mm and 165mm of rainfall respectively,”  he adds.

Like the rest of the state the Cauvery catchment area seems to be doing better this year as it had recorded 35 per cent lesser rainfall than average last year.  “The intensity of the South West Monsoon depends on global phenomena such as the pressure gradient between the Indian and Pacific Oceans,”  Rajegowda explains.

Plans to rejuvenate Karnataka's Arkavathy river on lines of river Thames

PTI

Bangalore: Karnataka government is planning to rejuvenate Arkavathy river on the lines of UK Government's similar action regarding River Thames flowing through Central London, Water Resources Minister M B Patil said on Saturday.

"We are planning to rejuvenate Arkavathy river as British Government had done to River Thames," he told reporters in Bangalore.

Arkavathy, a tributary of river Cauvery, is a large mountai

n river originating at Nandi Hills of Chikkaballapura district. The river is used by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board to provide drinking water to Bangalore.

Mr Patil said the Managing Director of Karnataka Irrigation Department Kapil Mohan recently visited London to study the feasibility of rejuvenating Arkavathy river.

Asked if the government would take international help for rejuvenation, Mr Patil said "if required we may hire best of international consultants and seek advice from IIT and other technical institutions."

He said the government was making efforts to draw a working plan to bring approximately 9.25 lakh hectares of land across the state under irrigation at a cost of Rs. 45,574.105 crore.

Replying to a query, Mr Patil said an additional land of about 35,000 acres is required for third phase of Upper Krishna (irrigation) Project.

"We will give compensation to farmers to be shifted.  There is no question of financial viability. It is only a technical and legal matter," he said.

US lottery winner scoops USD 590.5-million jackpot

AFP 


Washington: One ticket-holder won a record Powerball lottery jackpot of more than USD 590 million, organisers said on Sunday, ending a day-long American quest for a life-changing payout.

The winning numbers - 10, 13, 14, 22, 52 and a Powerball of 11 - were drawn just before 11:00 pm eastern time (0300 GMT Sunday) and the winning ticket was sold in Florida, according to the competition's website. US media quoted lottery officials as putting the winning purse at USD 590.5 million.

Powerball did not name the winner but said further details would be released later on Sunday.

Americans by the droves plunked down their cash on Saturday in a last-minute push for a chance at scooping the top prize, snapping up the USD 2 tickets at supermarkets, corner stores and gas stations. The jackpot had been trailed as 'the largest in the 21-year history of the game', the Iowa state lottery agency said in a statement before the draw.

The prediction proved accurate, narrowly surpassing a November 2012 Powerball jackpot of USD 587.5 million.

"Strong sales across the country are the reason the prize is taking big jumps now," the organisers said - particularly after the May 15 draw, when the jackpot stood at USD 363.9 million and there was no winner. Sales were also boosted after Powerball tickets becam

e available in California starting in April, the 43rd US state to join the competition.

Powerball - a shared jackpot coordinated by the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), formed by the participating state lotteries -- cannot be played from outside the United States or outside participating states. The game presents a choice of five numbers from a pool of 59, plus a Powerball number from a separate pool of 35.

Like all US lotteries, the winnings are subject to tax. The richest US lottery jackpot of all time is USD 656 million, won in a Mega Millions draw in March 2012 and split between three tickets in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland. Back then, when entering cost USD 1, big lines of customers formed for three days, said Rajendra Prasad Bhusal, an employee at the Continental Wine and Liquor store in downtown Washington.

In recent days, hopefuls have again streamed in to buy Powerball tickets, but the crowd is only a third of the numbers seen in March last year, according to the liquor salesman. "Now, people complain that the tickets cost too much," he added. 

Monsoon onset in Andamans expected in 2-3 days

Aided by raging cyclone Mahasen, south west monsoon, the lifeline for millions of farmers, is all set to bring showers over the Andaman Sea in the next two to three days.

"Conditions are favourable for advance of south west monsoon over Andaman Sea and adjoining sea areas during next 2-3 days," the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said today.

Weather scientists said cyclone Mahasen, which has been churning the Bay of Bengal clocking wind speed of upto 75 km per hour, is expected to help in the onset of monsoon over Andaman Sea.

Andaman and Nicobar Islands usually receive monsoon showers between May 10 and May 20.

Under the influence of Mahasen which is likely to lash many parts of coastal Odisha and some other areas, Andaman and Nicobar Islands region has been experiencing heavy rainfall and squally winds of upto 40-45 km per hour.

Last month, the weather office had forecast normal monsoon this year with overall rainfall expected to be 98 per cent of the long period average.

Monsoon is crucial for the kharif crops such as rice, soyabean, cotton and maize because almost 60 per cent of the farm land in the country is rainfed.

Meanwhile, the annual conference of relief commissioners and functionaries of Departments of Disaster Management of the states today reviewed the preparedness to deal with disasters.

The capacities of early warning systems have been strengthened but there was a need to augment multi-sectoral approach in dealing with disasters, A K Mangotra, Secretary (Border Management) in the Union Home Ministry said.

Farmers to get loans to the tune of Rs 72,000 crore: AP CM

Hyderabad: The Congress government in Andhra Pradesh plans to disburse loans to the tune of Rs 72,000 crore to farmers this year, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy said on Monday.

Speaking at a farmers' meeting at Bodhan in Nizamabad district, he said that the government has also enhanced its budget for agri-related sectors from Rs 900 crore to Rs 5,500 crore.



Claiming that it is the Congress which always stood by farmers, Reddy said the UPA government had waived farmers' loans to the tune of Rs 63,000 crore.

The government is also trying to get national status for Polavaram and Pranahita-Chevella irrigation projects in the state, Reddy added.

PTI

Retail inflation drops to 9.39% in April

PTI

NEW DELHI: Falling for the second straight month, retail inflation declined sharply to 9.39 per cent in April due to easing of prices of vegetables, edible oil and protein-based items.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation stood at 10.39 per cent in March.

The prices in the vegetables basket eased to 5.43 per cent in April from 12.16 per cent in March.

Techies start yatra to boost farm yield

Recognising the importance of agriculture in the country’s economy, a group of youngsters from the city have embarked on Krishi Yatra, a journey to change the face of agriculture in the state, here on Monday.

The participants, all engineering students, who believe in contributing their acumen and mettle in the field of agriculture will travel to agri-farms and rural areas in a self-made solar car.

In the agritour, the engineering students intend to collaborate technological advancements and the numerous years of practical experiences and the theory used by farmers to cultivate. During the 25-day yatra covering 450 villages, these engineers would travel across the state to get the inputs from farmers.

The team’s mission is to implement engineering advancements in farming practices to address various problems the farmers are facing today. With this mission of  ‘engineering for agriculture’, these youth from various prestigious universities like Gitam, NIT-Warangal, IIIT-Hyderabad, SRM and Vellore Institute of Technology.

The team heading towards Tirupati will cover over 1,600 km. “We are proud about the Rs 1-lakh solar vehicle we have designed ourselves with help from corporates, support of our parents.”
About 50 pc of India’s workforce is engaged in agriculture but the GDP contribution is just 16 pc,” said Jignesh Talasila, an alumni of Gitam and NIT-W, who worked for an MNC till last month and joined Krishi Yatra team now.