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 9^th November, 2006

SUBJECT: MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE CROP WEATHER WATCH GROUP HELD ON  03.11.2006.

A copy of the summary proceedings of the meeting of Crop Weather Watch Group held on 03rd November 2006 , is enclosed. This issues with the approval of the Chairman.

               (Sudha Keshari)

                    Asst. F.A.

                  Ph No. 7541

         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 03.11.2006

 The meeting of the Crop Weather Watch Group (CWWG) was held on 03.11.2006 under the Chairmanship of Dr. A.K. Neog, E.S.A.,  DES Ministry of Agriculture.

Salient aspects of discussions / presentations in the meeting

Rainfall

Rainfall during the week ending on  01^st November, 2006

·        Widespread / fairly widespread rainfall occurred over Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry, Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Kerala on most days of the week.  Heavy to very heavy falls at a few places with isolated extremely heavy falls (25 cm or more) occurred over Coastal Andhra Pradesh during 30^th – 31^st October, 06.  Scattered rainfall activity was also realized on remaining parts of the  South Peninsula during the week.

·        Rain / thundershowers occurred at a few places over Coastal Orissa during 29^th October to 1^st November, 06.  Isolated rain / thundershowers also occurred over Maharashtra , Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Interior Orissa, Jharkhand and Gangetic West Bengal and Tripura on 1^st November, 06.

·        The weather remained mainly dry over rest of the regions during the week.

·        All India area weighted rainfall for the week (26^th October – 01^st November, 2006 ) was above normal by 59% (Actual 15.4 mm, Normal 9.7  mm).

Distribution of Rainfall[1]:

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

Ø        Normal rainfall in 02 out of 36 meteorological sub-divisions of the country.

Ø        Deficient rainfall in 05 out of 36 meteorological sub-divisions of the country.

Ø        Scanty rainfall in 12 out of 36 meteorological sub-divisions of the country.

Ø        No rain in 13 out of 36 meteorological sub-divisions of the country.

Cumulative seasonal rainfall (1st October  to  01^st November, 2006 )

·        All India area weighted rainfall for the Post-Monsoon season was below normal by 34% (Actual 52.7 mm  Normal 79.7 mm).

          Distribution of Rainfall:

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

Ø        Normal rainfall in 01 out of 36 meteorological sub-divisions of the country.

Ø        Deficient rainfall in 13 out of 36 meteorological sub-divisions of the country.

Ø        Scanty rainfall in 16 out of 36 meteorological sub-divisions of the country.

Table-1: Cumulative Rainfall  from 1^st October to  01^st November, 06  in four regions of the country [2]

 Temperature:

·        The night temperatures continued to be above normal over many parts of North & Central India during the week.

Zone-wise Weather Forecast for the period (03^rd – 09^th November, 2006), by NCMRWF

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

·        Isolated rainfall / snowfall are likely over J&K, Himachal Pradesh during 7^th – 8^th November, 06.  Mainly dry weather is likely over rest of the region.

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

·        Isolated rainfall are likely over East UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal during 3^rd & 4^th November, 06.   Mainly dry weather is likely over rest region during next 3-4 days.

Central India (MP, Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha)

·        Scattered rainfall is expected over Chhattisgarh.  Isolated rainfall is likely over Vidarbha and Madhya Pradesh.

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

·        Scattered to fairly widespread rainfall is likely over Coastal A.P., Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala during next 4-5 days.   Isolated to scattered rainfall is expected over rest of region.

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

·        Fairly widespread rainfall with heavy fall is expected over Konkan & Goa.  Scattered rainfall is likely over Madhya Maharashtra and Marathawada during 3^rd & 4^th November 06, then mainly dry weather condition may prevail over the region.  Mainly dry weather is likely over rest of  the region.

Heavy rainfall warning:

·        Isolated heavy rainfall is likely over South Coastal Tamil Nadu, South Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Coastal & South Interior Karnataka and Lakshadweep .

Reservoir Status (For the week ending on 02.11.2006)

·        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 112.19  BCM from 114.84 BCM reported last week. The current storage is more than the last year’s position by 2.60 BCM and more than the average of last 10 year’s storage by 19.27 BCM.

Table – 3: For 76 major reservoirs of the country

·        There were 71 reservoirs having storage more than 80%, 3 reservoirs having storage between  50% to 80% and one reservoir having storage between 30% to 50% of Normal Storage.

·        There was one 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 21.10.2006 increased by 0.15 percentage points to 5.41% from the previous week’s level of 5.26%. The inflation rate for the agriculture commodities rose by 0.32% and for foodgrains rose by 0.24% over the week on account of increase in WPI of Wheat by (0.54%), Maize by (0.42%), Gram by (1.07%), Moong by (0.94%) and Urad by (3.69%).  The WPI of some of the food items declined: Rice by (0.06%), Jowar by (1.40%), Bajra by (0.05%), Arhar by (0.16%) and Sugar by (0.12%).  The inflation rate was 4.49% 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 Rice, Wheat,  Sugar, Groundnut oil, Mustard oil, Vanaspati, Milk, Tomato and Brinjal remained at the same level as they were last week .  Rise in prices was noted in Atta (50 paise per kg, 4.0%), Tea (Loose) (Re. 1.00 per kg, 0.9%), Potato (Rs. 3.00 per kg, 21.4%), Onion (1.0 per kg, 10.0%) and Gourd (Lauki) (50 paise per kg, 4.3%).  Fall in prices was noted in Gram dal (Re. 1.00 per kg, 2.3%) and Tur dal ( Re. 1.00 per kg, 2.8%).

As compared to the last year the increase in prices of Rice (Rs. 1.50 per kg, 11.5%), Wheat (Rs. 2.00 per kg, 22.2%), Atta (Rs. 3.00 per kg, 30.0%),Gram Dal (Rs. 17.00 per kg, 68.0%), Tur dal (Rs. 2.00 per kg, 6.1%), Potato (Rs. 6.50 per kg, 61.9%), Gourd (Lauki) (Rs. 3.00 per kg, 33.3%), Vanaspati (Rs. 8.00 per kg, 16.7%), Mustard Oil (Re. 1.00 per ltr., 1.9%), 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 Tomato (Rs. 3.00 per kg, 16.7%), Onion (Rs. 7.00 per kg, -38.9%) 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

Procurement :

Table – 8: Progressive procurement of Rice as on 02.11.2006 (lakh tonnes)

Source: Department of Food & Public Distribution.

Annexure

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS WHO ATTENDED THE MEETING OF CROP WEATHER WATCH GROUP HELD ON  03.11.2006.

Dr. A.K. Neog                                   E.S.A.                                         Chairman

               DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE & COOPERATION

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

2.         Shri S. Selvaraj                          DC (Seeds)

3.         Shri B.J. Bhatacharaya               D.S. (INM)

4.         Dr. S.S. Tomar                          Asstt. Commissioner (TMOP)

I.M.D.

5.         Shri B.P. Yadav                         Director

DEPTT. OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

6.         Dr. Ranjeet Singh                       P.S.O.

C.W.C.

7.         Shri S. K. Sinha                         Asstt. Director

CENTRAL GROUND WATER BOARD

8.         Sh. Rana Chatterjee                   Scientist ‘D’

P.P.Q & S

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

I.C.A.R.

10.        Dr. O.P. Sharma                        Pr. Scientist

DEPTT. OF FERTILIZER

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

P.I.B.

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

DIRECTORATE OF ECONOMICS & STATISTICS

13.        Shri A.K. Parasher                     Adviser

14.        Shri Vijay Kumar                        Adviser

N.C.F.C.

15.      Shri Jitender Kumar                   Addl. S.A. & Member Secretary

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

17.      Smt. Sudha Keshari                  Asstt. E.A.

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