F.NO. 3-1/2006-NCFC – E&S

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE & COOPERATION

(NATIONAL CROP FORECASTING CENTRE)

                                                                        Room no. 145, Krishi Bhavan, New Delhi                                                                                           Dated, the 01^th November, 2006

SUBJECT: MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE CROP WEATHER WATCH GROUP HELD ON  27.10.2006.

A copy of the summary proceedings of the meeting of Crop Weather Watch Group held on 01^th Nov 2006 , is enclosed. This issues with the approval of the Chairman.

               (Jitender Kumar)

                    Addl. S.A.

                  Ph No. 4644

         e-mail – ncfc@nic.in  

DISTRIBUTION LIST

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE & CO-OPERATION

P.P.S. TO SECY (A&C)/ P.P.S. TO Spl. Secy. (CC) / PPS to Addl. Secy. (RSP)/   PPS  to  Addl. Secy. (PPM)/   PPS

to Addl. Secy. (AKS)/ P.P.S. TO Addl. Secy. (CTM)/ PS to Agriculture Commissioner/PS to Chairman, CACP

V . I . P .s

ADDL. SECY. (CABINET SECTT.)  / Shri Govindan Nair, Minister (Agri.) , ROME , Italy      

JOINT SECRETARIES/EXPERTS & OTHERS

J.S. (PP&CVO), Hort. Commissioner, J.S. (Crops & TMOP), J.S. (Credit, Coop. & INM), J.S. (Seeds, Agri., Imp & My), J.S. (Extn, NRM, RFS, WD & IT), J.S. (DM & IC), J.S. (Admn., EANHB, AC, GC, Policy & Plan) J.S. (Agrl. Marketing), J.S. (Trade & MM), Adviser (PPQ).

CROPS DIVISION / TMO & P / PIB

Addl. Commissioner (Crops), Asst. Commissioner (TMOP), Dy. Commissioner (Seeds), Press Information Officer,  DPIO

DIRECTORATE OF ECONOMICS & STATISTICS

ESA, Adviser (VK), Adviser (MB), Adviser (RV)

 I.C.A.R.

D.G.(ICAR)/DDG (NRM), ADG(AGRONOMY)

MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PD

Joint Secretary (Food) / Director (Edible Oils) / Director (Sugarcane), Dy. Director (Con. Affairs)

DEPARTMENT OF FERTILISER

Director (MOVEMENT),

PLANNING COMMISSION

ADVISER (AGRI) 

MINISTRY OF PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS

Director,Marketing,

 MINISTRY OF POWER

Member Secretary, Central Electricity Authority

INDIA METEOROLOGICAL DEPARTMENT 

Director (IMD),

 DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (NCMRWF)

Director ( NCMRWF)

MINISTRY OF WATER RESOURCES

Director (Central Water Commission.), Chairman (Central Ground Water Board)

CENTRAL STATISTICAL ORGANISATION

ADG, NAD

MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Eco. Adviser

RESERVE BANK OF INDIA      

Director (DEAP)

NATIONAL INFORMATICS CENTRE

   Tech. Director

               F.NO. 3-1/2006-NCFC – E&S

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE & COOPERATION

(NATIONAL CROP FORECASTING CENTRE)

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE CROP WEATHER WATCH GROUP HELD ON 27.10.2006

 The meeting of the Crop Weather Watch Group (CWWG) was held on 27.10.2006 under the Chairmanship of Shri Vijay Kumar, Adviser, DES Ministry of Agriculture.

Salient aspects of discussions / presentations in the meeting

Rainfall

Rainfall during the week ending on  26^th  October, 2006

·        Fairly widespread rainfall occurred over South Peninsula on most days of the week and over Andaman & Nicobar Islands on some days with isolated heavy to very heavy falls over Kerala and South Tamil Nadu on few days of the week.

·        Fairly widespread rainfall occurred over Western Himalayan region on 20^th &          21^st Oct, 06 and isolated rainfall on 22^nd & 23^rd Oct, 06.

·        Rain / thundershowers also occurred at a few places over plains of Northwest India, adjoining North Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh on 20^th Oct 06, over Sub-Himalayan West Bengal & Sikkim, Bihar and Northeastern States on 21^st Oct 06, and over Madhya Pradesh on 20^th and 22^nd Oct 06.  Isolated rain / thundershowers also occurred over Jharkhand, Coastal Orissa, Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Gangetic West Bengal on few days of the week.

·        It was mainly dry over the rest regions during the entire week.

·        All India area weighted rainfall for the week (19^th  – 25^th  October, 2006) was below normal by 38% (Actual 8.9 mm, Normal 14.3  mm).

Distribution of Rainfall[1]:

Ø        Excess rainfall in 09 out of 36 meteorological sub-divisions of the country.

Ø        Normal rainfall in 04 out of 36 meteorological sub-divisions of the country.

Ø        Deficient rainfall in 04 out of 36 meteorological sub-divisions of the country.

Ø        Scanty rainfall in 14 out of 36 meteorological sub-divisions of the country.

Ø        No rain in 05 out of 36 meteorological sub-divisions of the country.

Cumulative seasonal rainfall (1st October  to  25^th October, 2006 )

·        All India area weighted rainfall for the Post-Monsoon season was below normal by 48% (Actual 36.6 mm  Normal 70.0 mm).

          Distribution of Rainfall:

Ø        Excess rainfall in 04 out of 36 meteorological sub-divisions of the country.

Ø        Normal rainfall in 06 out of 36 meteorological sub-divisions of the country.

Ø        Deficient rainfall in 07 out of 36 meteorological sub-divisions of the country.

Ø        Scanty rainfall in 19 out of 36 meteorological sub-divisions of the country.

Table-1: Cumulative Rainfall  from 1^st October to  25^th October, 06  in four regions of the country [2]

Zone-wise Weather Forecast for the period (27^th – 30^th October, 2006), by IMD

North-West India (J&K, HP, Uttaranchal, Punjab , Haryana, Delhi , West UP)

·        Isolated rain / thundershowers likely over Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal.  Mainly dry weather is likely over the rest region.

East India (East UP, Bihar , Jharkhand, West Bengal , Orissa , NE States)

·        Isolated rain / thundershowers likely over Coastal areas of West Bengal and Orissa.  Mainly dry weather is likely over the rest region.

North-East India (Arunachal Pradesh, NMM&T, Assam , Meghalaya )

·        Isolated rain / thundershowers are likely over Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur & Tripura. Mainly dry weather is likely over the rest region.

Central India (MP, Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha)

·        Isolated rain / thundershowers are likely over Madhya Pradesh. Mainly dry weather is likely over the rest region.

South India (Tamil Nadu, AP, Kerala, Karnataka, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep )

·        Rain / thundershowers are likely at most places over Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry;  at many places over South Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Kerala and Lakshadweep; at a few places over North Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalseema & isolated over the rest region outside North Interior Karnataka and Telangana where weather will be mainly dry.

West India ( Maharashtra , Other than Vidarbha, Gujarat , Rajasthan)

·        Mainly dry weather is likely over the region.

Heavy rainfall warning:

·        Isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall likely over South Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry, Kerala, Lakshadweep and Nicobar Islands .

Reservoir Status (For the week ending on 26.10.2006)

·        The Central Water Commission monitors the live storage of 76 important/major reservoirs, having Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of 133.02 billion cubic meters (BCM), which is about 63% of total reservoir capacity in the country. 

·        Water stock in 76 major reservoirs increased to 114.84  BCM from 118.12 BCM reported last week. The current storage is more than the last year’s position by 5.71 BCM and more than the average of last 10 year’s storage by 22.18 BCM.

Table – 3: For 76 major reservoirs of the country

·        There were 72 reservoirs having storage more than 80%, 2 reservoirs having storage between  50% to 80% and 2 reservoirs having storage between 30% to 50% of Normal Storage.

·        There was no reservoir having live storage under 30% of normal storage and no reservoir having negative live storage.

Crop Condition (Kharif 2006)

Table – 4: Summary of progress of Kharif crops (area coverage)

(Area in lakh hectares)

Crop Condition (Rabi 2006)

Table – 4: Summary of progress of Rabi crops (area coverage)

(Area in lakh hectares)

Price Situation of Agricultural Commodities (Department of Consumer Affairs)

Inflation

The all-commodity inflation rate based on Wholesale Price Index (WPI) on a point to point basis for the week ending 14.10.2006 increased by 0.10 percentage points to 5.26% from the previous week’s level of 5.16%. The inflation rate for the agriculture commodities rose by 0.27% and for foodgrains rose by 0.14% over the week on account of increase in WPI of Rice by (0.28%), Wheat by (0.14%), Maize by (1.45%), Ragi by (2.13%) Gram by (0.04%) and Urad by (0.28%).  The WPI of some of the food items declined: Jowar by (1.24%), Bajra by (0.86%), Barley by (0.63%), Arhar by (0.21%) and Sugar by (0.18%).  The inflation rate was 4.77% during the corresponding period last year.

Table – 5: Retail prices of Essential Agricultural Commodities at Delhi

                     (Rs. Per Kg.)

Prices quoted are of the fair average quality, consumed by masses

·        Representative prices of five markets of Delhi are Yusuf Sarai, Janak Puri, Paharganj, Kotla Mubarakpur and Shahdara.

·        Source : Department of food and Civil Supplies, Delhi

During the week, prices of some of the essential agricultural commodities like Wheat,  Sugar, Groundnut oil, Mustard oil, Vanaspati, Milk, Onion and Brinjal remained at the same level as they were last week .  Rise in prices was noted in Atta (50 paise per kg, 4.2%), Gram dal (Re. 1.00 per kg, 2.4%), Tur dal ( Re. 1.00 per kg, 2.9%), Tea (Loose) (Re. 1.00 per kg, 0.9%),  Potato (Rs. 2.00 per kg, 16.7%) and Gourd (Lauki) (Rs. 1.50 per kg, 15.0%).  Fall in prices was noted in Tomato (Re. 1.00 per kg, -6.3%) and Rice (50 paise per kg, -3.3%).

As compared to the last year the increase in prices of Rice (Rs. 2.00 per kg, 16.0%), Wheat (Rs. 2.00 per kg, 22.2%), Atta (Rs. 3.00 per kg, 26.3%),Gram Dal (Rs. 18.00 per kg, 72.0%), Tur dal (Rs. 3.00 per kg, 9.1%), Tomato (Rs. 4.00 per kg, 36.4%), Potato (Rs. 4.00 per kg, 40.0%), Gourd (Lauki) (Re. 1.00 per kg, 9.5%), Vanaspati (Rs. 9.00 per kg, 19.1%), Mustard Oil (Rs. 4.00 per ltr., 8.2%),Groundnut oil (Rs. 7.00 per kg, 8.4%), Milk (Rs.2.00 per lt, 13.3%), Tea (Loose) (Rs. 6.00 per kg, 5.8%) and  Sugar (Re. 1.00 per kg, 5.0%) and decrease in price of Onion (Rs. 11.00 per kg, -52.4%) and Brinjal (Re. 1.00 per kg, -7.7%) is noticed.  

Fertilizer Position:

Table – 6: Requirement, Availability, Sales and Stock position of Major Fertilizers Urea, DAP and MOP as on 15^th October, 2006

                                                                                                (in ‘000 Tonnes)

Pest & Diseases:

Chemical Pesticides / Bio-pesticides Position:

• No report of shortage / short supply of either chemical pesticides or bio-pesticides has been received from any State / UT.

• The incidence of pest & diseases remained below Economic Threshold   Level (ETL) generally for most of the crops

Kisan Credit Card:

Table – 7: Number of Kisan Credit Card issued & amount disbursed  

Procurement :

Table – 8: Progressive procurement of Rice as on 30.10.2006 (lakh tonnes)

Source: Department of Food & Public Distribution.

Annexure

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS WHO ATTENDED THE MEETING OF CROP WEATHER WATCH GROUP HELD ON  27.10.2006.

Sh. Vijay Kumar                              Adviser                                      Chairman

               DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE & COOPERATION

1.         Dr. J.P. Mishra                          Dy. Commissioner (Crops)

2.         Shri S. Selvaraj                          DC (Seeds)

3.         Shri Chennu S. Mathad              Asstt. Editor (Exten)

I.M.D.

4.         Sh. Rahul                                  Met-I

C.W.C.

5.         Shri S. K. Sinha                         Asstt. Director

CENTRAL GROUND WATER BOARD

6.         Sh. Rana Chatterjee                   Scientist ‘D’

I.C.A.R.

7.         Dr. O.P. Sharma                        Pr. Scientist

P.P.Q & S

8.         Shri V.K. Yadava                       Dy. Director (IPM)

HORTICULTURE DIVISION

9.         Sh. O.P. Choudhary                   Asstt. Commissioner

P.I.B.

10.        Shri A.M. Thomas                      Sr. Media & Communication Officer

DEPTT. OF FERTILIZER

11.        Shri S.K. Kaushik                      Asstt. Director (FM)

DIRECTORATE OF ECONOMICS & STATISTICS

12.        Shri A.K. Parasher                     Adviser

N.C.F.C.

13.      Shri Jitender Kumar                   Assl. S.A. & Member Secretary

14.      Shri P.S. Meena                         Dy. E.A.

15.      Smt. Sudha Keshari                  Asstt. E.A.

Note: Representatives from NCMRWF, Deptt. of Consumer Affairs RBI did not attend the meeting.   It is requested that they should regularly attend meetings of the group.