The annual southwest monsoon, crucial for agriculture, on Tuesday hit Kerala, four days behind schedule, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
Kerala usually receives monsoon showers by June 1, but scientists said there was no need to paint a gloomy picture as the progress of the seasonal rainfall phenomenon was well with the forecast limits which have a model error of four days.
“The monsoon has hit Kerala and it has covered the entire state bringing showers and relief to framers,” IMD director general L.S. Rathore told IANS.
He said the monsoon was expected to progress further to the country’s northeast and coastal Goa by Wednesday.
“It has reached right up to the Bay of Bengal,” he said. Â Rathore said there was nothing to be panic over the monsoon delay.
“As of now the monsoonal flow is strong and Kerala and parts of South Karnataka will continue to get rains for the next two to three days,” D Sivananda Pai, director National Climate Centre and lead forecaster for monsoon, said.
Pai said conditions were favourable for further advance of monsoon.
Monsoon rains are crucial for agriculture as only 40% of the cultivable area is under irrigation. The farm sector contributes about only 15% to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but it employs about 60% of India’s population.