The Indian agricultural seasons are organized around the rainfall patterns: they are centered around June to September in the north-western lowlands (e.g. Haryana State), but grow longer in the east (e.g., May-October in West Bengal), and occur later in the south (e.g., May to November, with abundant rainfall in September-November in Tamil Nadu).

This bulletin covers the June to January rice and maize kharif crops. Irrigation plays a major part, mainly in the north (from Punjab to Uttar Pradesh) and in the north-west (West Bengal). The period from June to September enjoyed favorable conditions in about half the country, mostly in the western half of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, and most of Orissa. The most favorable conditions occurred in Gujarat and parts of Maharashtra in July and August. Remaining areas have more mixed prospects: In Punjab, Haryana, North Rajasthan, and eastern Uttar Pradesh, conditions were unfavorable in June.

As illustrated in figures 3.1 and 3.2, India suffered from a combination of below average rainfall and temperature, mostly in the north-west and west. The situation was unfavorable in most of Madhya Pradesh in July, but recovered rapidly in August. Finally, an area centered around northern-central Madhya Pradesh underwent constantly deteriorating conditions from May to September. Conditions in Bangladesh were mostly close to average in the south, but less favorable in the northern half, which experienced the June deterioration also observed in parts of India.

Figure 3.9 Crop condition Bangladesh andIndia.

Table 3.4 India, 2013 production bystate (thousand tons)