MUMBAI: Amid a prediction of below normal monsoon season, which has resulted in 22% decline in total area sown under kharif crop in June, finance ministry has called for the need to “reorient” agricultural pricing policies to incentivise the cultivation of climate-resilient crops and disincentivise water intensive ones, along with building water buffers. “The weak progress of the south west monsoon has weighed on kharif sowing, and the monsoon deficit is a concern.

Kharif crop sowing plummets 23% due to delayed monsoon and low reservoir levels, raising concerns for agricultural output.

The India Meteorological Department has forecast seasonal rainfall at 90% of the long-period average this year.