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Informist, Thursday, Jun. 18, 2026

 

By Shreya Shetty

 

MUMBAI – Kharif sowing in Maharashtra is off to a slow start this year due to the delayed monsoon, which has prompted the state government to instruct farmers to postpone sowing till monsoon showers begin, experts and market participants said. However, with dwindling water levels in reservoirs, the state's prioritisation of drinking water over farming is likely to slow down sowing further, they said.

 

As of Monday, kharif crops were sown across 143,940 hectares, down 66% from 423,875 hectares a year ago, according to a report released by the state agriculture department. Of the normal area of 15.75 million hectares for the season, only around 1% has been covered so far.

 

"Maharashtra government has given the guidance, the directive to not plant till rainfall begins in the state," said G. Chandrashekhar, a commodity expert and policy commentator. Farmers are simply following this directive, leading to lower kharif acreage so far, he said.

 

On Jun. 1, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis urged farmers to not rush into sowing by relying on pre-monsoon showers, and to only begin planning for sowing after ensuring proper and stable rainfall has begun. In the follow-up to these instructions, the state government in a Cabinet meeting this week said instructions have been issued to farmers to not hurry with sowing operations, according to Press Trust of India. The report, quoting sources, said the Cabinet expressed concern over the delay in the monsoon and depleting water stock, and stressed the need to use water judiciously.

 

During Jun. 1–17, Maharashtra recorded 22 millimetres of rainfall, 76?low the normal of 93.4 millimetres for the period, data from the India Meteorological Department said. The southwest monsoon advanced over Kerala on Jun. 4 and its movement over the Indian mainland has been sluggish since. In the past few days, the trough has come to a complete halt. The western arm of the trough has remained stalled over Harnai and Solapur in Maharashtra since Jun. 8 and the eastern end of the arm has been stuck over Muzaffarpur in Bihar for the past five days.

 

According to officials from the weather department and private weather forecasting agency Skymet, the current weather conditions are likely to prevent further movement of the trough for the next few days at least.

 

Monsoon onset over Mumbai is now likely during the last few days of June, much delayed from the normal date of Jun. 11, weather officials said. This points to a further delay in monsoon onset over the rest of Maharashtra as well, they said.

 

Typically, farmers need at least 10–12 centimetres of soil moisture for sowing, said Satish Upadhyay, secretary, India Pulses and Grains Association. "If sowing gets delayed to the first week of July there, it will bring down over acreage this year. We will get a lower crop, lesser yield," he said, adding, "However, that is also not confirmed because a lot of uncertainty about weather remains."

 

"In some areas, turmeric sowing has already occurred because that is usually done first. In tur growing regions, there has been no rainfall, so farmers are waiting," said Rahul Chauhan, director, IGrain India, an agri-commodity research centre. Sowing of turmeric generally takes place from mid-April to May.

 

In districts such as Vidarbha, which comprise Nagpur and Amaravati, sowing is progressing well as reservoirs still have sufficient water largely due to good rainfall in the region last year, Upadhyay said. "Farmers there can survive for another one to two months dependent on reservoir water," he said. Water levels in Nagpur reservoirs are at 36.31% of the live water capacity, up from 32.25% a year ago, as of Thursday, data from the state water resource department showed.

 

"The government is very serious about this matter now. They are instructing farmers in seeding and other things in view of the monsoon delay," Upadhyay said. "In places where there are good irrigation facilities, where there are dams, the sowing has begun, and with such resources, the crops could survive. But again, there is a risk of re-sowing if rains don't come," he said.

 

As of Thursday, water levels in reservoirs across Maharashtra were at 24.03% of their live storage capacity, down from 32.38% a year ago. Reservoir levels in Pune are the lowest at 14.3% of their live storage capacity, down from 31.16% a year ago, while they are highest in Amravati at 37.53%, largely unchanged from 37.91% a year ago.

 

The progress in sowing of kharif crops in Maharashtra could slow down further as the government is prioritising water supplies for drinking purposes over farming and irrigation, experts said.

 

"It is obvious that the state will prioritise drinking water in such situations; crops are secondary," Upadhyay said. This is evident in the water cuts announced in several cities in the states, along with directives given for the conservation of water, he said.

 

The Maharashtra government on Monday directed officials to stop the release of dam water for agricultural irrigation and reserve available stocks exclusively for drinking purposes until Aug. 31, according to media reports. The decision was announced by Water Resources Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil after reviewing rainfall patterns and reservoir storage levels across key river basins in the state, the reports said.

 

The circular directs district collectors and officials of the water resources department to conduct an immediate review of available water storage in dams and reservoirs, according to reports. Irrigation water releases that are proposed or currently underway have been ordered to be stopped with immediate effect. Water reserved specifically for drinking purposes must not be diverted for any other use except in unavoidable emergencies.

 

So far, municipal corporations in Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, and Thane have announced water cuts and severe water conservation measures to ensure availability of sufficient drinking water.

 

"We will know by the end of June what the outlook will be. Definitely, there will be a cause for concern if there are no rains for the next two weeks, but we need to wait and watch," Chandrashekhar said.

 

A scenario where reservoirs run dry due to the lack of rainfall is unlikely, Upadhyay said. "There are reports suggesting there will definitely be rainfall after June, maybe in the first days of July, so reservoirs won't empty out," he said. However, he added that the government's prioritisation of water could impact the pace of sowing further. "There is no guarantee that sowing will pick up after June because, right now, there is priority on drinking water than anything else," he said.  End

 

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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