Reaching 6% over its long period average by August 12, the Southwest monsoon’s spread has widened over the past fortnight, lifting Kharif sowing and reservoir levels, even as areas still facing deficient rainfall dropped to 17% of the country from 25% as of July 29.

The total sown area for Kharif crops was 1.4% higher than the corresponding areas last year, as of Monday, led by a 6.7% spike in sowing of pulses, and a sharp rise in paddy cultivation from 216 lakh hectares on July 26 to almost 332 lakh hectares, which is 4.3% over last year.

“With few weeks of sowing season remaining, distribution of rainfall continues to remains a critical factor for farming activity,” said Bank of Baroda economist Sonal Badhan. Nine States have still recorded deficient rains this season, compared with 10 States a fortnight ago, including Punjab, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir and some eastern states. Ms. Badhan noted that Punjab has access to irrigation, so the impact on the State’s crop sowing may be muted.

However, State Bank of India group chief economic advisor Soumya Kanti Ghosh expressed concern about the uneven distribution of monsoon so far, with the major foodgrain producing States still lagging.

Further, with La Niña effects getting precedence, excess rainfalls in August and September could result in crop loss and thus have a debilitating impact on food prices, Mr. Ghosh cautioned in a report on Tuesday. 

Sown area for oilseeds was up 0.8% by August 12, while sugarcane and coarse cereals had risen 1%. Cotton and Jute trailed last year’s acreages by about 9%.

Overall reservoir levels have improved to 65% of capacity from about 61% last year, but this has been spruced up by a rise in the eastern and southern region, while other regions continue to lag last year’s storage levels, with the northern region storage levels at just 46% of capacity.