Well-prepared to tackle monsoon deficit: Govt

New Delhi: A day after a 12 percent deficit in monsoon rains this season was officially predicted, the government on Wednesday said it was well-prepared to tackle the situation with contingency plans for 580 districts.

"If there are poor rains, in agriculture sector, there would obviously be some losses," Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said at a press conference here.

"But we have the confidence -- policies in place -- to ensure there is minimum damage to the agriculture sector and economy," added Singh whose ministry normally overseas the overall, nation-wide contingency plan during deficit monsoons.

The minister said even at a similar time last year, the country faced poor rains but the situation was not allowed to go out of hand. "There were losses but the losses were not that huge. This time also we will face the situation."

Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan had said Tuesday that rains during this monsoon was likely to be below normal-to-deficient at 88 percent -- plus or minus four percent -- of the average rainfall. He also said the probability of below-average monsoon -- of rains between 96 and 104 percent of the long-term average (the average annual rainfall for the period 1951-2000) -- had risen from 68 percent in April to 93 percent now.

Harsh Vardhan has also warned that the northwest region, which includes Delhi, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, would receive just 85 percent of the average rain.

As per the agriculture ministry's latest advance estimate for 2014-15 season, grain production in the country is estimated at 251.12 million tonnes -- 13.92 million tonnes lower than the previous year's record production of 265.04 million tonnes. "Un-seasonal rains and hailstorm during Feb-March 2015 had significant impact on rabi (winter) crops. As a result of setback in kharif (summer) as well as rabi seasons, the production of most of the crops have declined," it said.

The Kharif season starts in June with sowing when the monsoon begins and the crop is harvested in November, while the rabi season begins with sowing in November and the crop, especially wheat, is harvested in April-May.

At the same time, there was also some hope as the total sown area as per latest reports from states stood at 56.22 lakh hectares compared to 49.04 lakh hectares at this time last year.

"The Sown area coverage of crops is higher in comparison to the previous kharif season," the ministry said. But experts have said that India needs to better plan the fall-out of low rains.