India predicts normal monsoon rainfall in 2010

Apr 23, 2010, 14:00 GMT

New Delhi - India's Meteorological Department predicted a normal monsoon season for 2010 Friday, easing worries of farmers and a government struggling with rising food prices.

Over 60 per cent of India's farming is fed by the seasonal monsoon, which occurs between June and September.

The monsoon in 2009 was 10 to 40 per cent below normal in most of the country, impacting food production and leading to spiralling prices of pulses and sugar.

Food inflation, which has remained above 15 per cent since November after the poor monsoon season, has become a hugely political issue.

Opposition parties have held demonstrations across the country and accused the government of mismanaging a crisis.

The India Meteorological Department in its long-term forecast for the 2010 monsoon season said the rainfall for the country as a whole was likely to be normal at about 98 per cent of the long-period average.

The average for the period 1941 to 1990 is 89 centimetres per monsoon season.

The department said it would update the forecast, which had an error margin of 5 per cent, in June.

It had also forecast a normal monsoon in April 2009, a year which saw the lowest monsoon rainfall in 37 years and left large swathes of the country grappling with drought.

About two-thirds of India's 1.2 billion population depend on agriculture and allied activities for a living.

Another poor monsoon would not only lead to higher inflation but would adversely impact economic growth as growing rural consumption has been a key driver of the economy in recent years.