IANS

Lucknow, Aug 1: After raising hopes of widespread rainfall in parts of Uttar Pradesh, the monsoon has once again disappointed the people of the state where 47 out of 71 districts have already been declared drought-hit.

The trough line that was passing over the state and was expected to bring rains to the state with the moisture feed from the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea has now shifted to the foothills of the Himalayas.

"Earlier, rainfall was to take place in most of the state, but now with the shift of the trough line, rains will take place only in Himalayan regions and some of its adjoining areas in the state," State Met Director J.P. Gupta told IANS.

Taking into account the position of the trough line, the Met office has forecast that rainfall activity in most parts of the state will remain subdued at least for the next six-seven days.

"We are expecting the revival of monsoon after a week as a low pressure area is developing over the Bay of Bengal," added Gupta.

There is not a single district in the state where rainfall has been above average. The districts where rainfall has been lowest include Chitrakoot (81 percent below average), Etah (84 percent below average) and Rampur (85 percent below average), officials said.

The state capital Lucknow has received lowest rainfall in two decades. Lucknow recorded 192.3 mm rainfall against the average of 357.9 mm from June 1 to July 31.

Due to scanty rainfall, farmers have not sowed nearly 50 percent of the agricultural land in Lucknow district this year.

According to the agriculture directorate, nearly six million hectares of land in the state was to be used for paddy but now only 5.2 million hectares is expected to be sown with the crop.

With scanty rains, the agriculture department expects a 20-30 percent drop in the kharif crop yield. Paddy production is expected to be 13.1 million metric tonnes against the target of 13.5 million metric tonnes and the production of coarse grain is expected to be 24.5 million tonnes against 25.4 million tonnes.