India Monsoon reaches Kerala after longest delay in 7 years
Monsoon rains reached India's southernmost Kerala coast on Thursday, bringing relief to farmers after more than a week's delay, marking their latest arrival in seven years.
The monsoon, the lifeblood of the country's $3 trillion economy, provides about 70% of the rainfall India needs to water farmland and recharge reservoirs and aquifers.
In the absence of irrigation systems, almost half of India's agricultural land depends on June-September rains and their late arrival could delay planting of rice, cotton, maize, soybean and sugarcane, traders said.
"The southwest monsoon has entered Kerala today, June 8, 2023, as against the normal date of June 1," the state-run India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a statement.
This year the IMD had expected monsoon rains along the state's coast on June 4, but their onset was delayed due to the formation of a severe cyclonic storm Biparjoy in the Arabian Sea.
The IMD has confirmed that the monsoon has set in over the southern state of Kerala, taking into account the rainfall and westerly wind speed measured at weather stations.
IMD said conditions are favorable for further advance of Monsoon into central Arabian Sea and some parts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka states.
