With
just a few weeks to go before the Southwest monsoon retreats, it seems
almost certain that the deficiency in rainfall would be such as to constitute
a drought. In its press release dated August 21, 2009, the Indian Meteorological
Department declared that rainfall deficiency relative to the long period
average was 26 per cent over the June 1 to August 19 period (Chart 1).
Northwest India with a deficiency of 37 per cent leads, followed by
Northeast India, Central India and the Southern Peninsula, in that order.
With deficiency having been high throughout the season in Northwest
India and very high in Central India in the period up to the first week
of July (Table 1), sowing has been delayed or has not occurred at all.
Agricultural output is thus bound to fall this year.
India last experienced a drought in 2002. The fortuitous record of six
years of normal or good monsoons after that is now being broken. This
is bound to test the ability of the government to deal with shocks other
than those transmitted through the world of finance.
As
a result of the early drought-like conditions, on August 13, 2009, area
sown under rice was reported at 247 lakh hectares which is 63 per cent
of normal levels and 19 per cent short of the previous year's levels.
The shortfall relative to the normal was 24 per cent for coarse cereals,
21 per cent for pulses and 10 per cent for oilseeds. This will obviously
affect aggregate production. The effect is likely to be significant
because kharif production accounts for around 57 per cent of total crop
production.
One crop that is expected to be particularly affected is rice, which
is the most important food crop during the kharif season. And the impact
could be severe on the marketed surplus of the crop, because some ''surplus
states'' have been particularly adversely affected. The deficiency in
rainfall has been high in those states which contributed a substantial
share of total rice procurement during the marketing season 2007-08.
Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Chattisgarh, which contributed
close to three-fourths of all rice procured during the 2007-08 marketing
year, have thus far experienced a deficiency in rainfall varying from
30 to 60 per cent (Table 2).
With the fall in output likely to push up market prices it can be expected
that farmers would prefer to sell in the market, where prices are likely
to be higher than the floor set by the minimum support price. In the
event, procurement is likely to be low, while demand from the public
distribution system is likely to rise in the wake of an increase in
market prices. If stocks with the government deplete, this could trigger
speculation based on inflationary price expectations, setting off a
price spiral.
Table
1: Week by week progress of cumulative seasonal rainfall |
Period
ending |
Country
as a whole |
Northwest
India |
Central
India |
South
Peninsula |
North
East India |
03.06.09
|
-32 |
-40 |
-50 |
-14 |
-32 |
10.06.09
|
-39 |
-31 |
-56 |
-15 |
-44 |
17.06.09
|
-45 |
-26 |
-72 |
-21 |
-46 |
24.06.09
|
-54 |
-49 |
-73 |
-38 |
-55 |
01.07.09
|
-46 |
-45 |
-59 |
-31 |
-41 |
08.07.09
|
-36 |
-50 |
-40 |
-18 |
-34 |
15.07.09
|
-27 |
-43 |
-15 |
-12 |
-40 |
22.07.09
|
-19 |
-38 |
3 |
-6 |
-43 |
29.07.09
|
-19 |
-33 |
1 |
-15 |
-39 |
05.08.09
|
-25 |
-40 |
-13 |
-18 |
-36 |
12.08.09
|
-29 |
-43 |
-19 |
-23 |
-36 |
19.08.09
|
-26 |
-37 |
-22 |
-20 |
-27 |
There
are three additional reasons why the evidence of an unfolding drought
is a matter for serious concern. To start with, during the previous
drought in 2002, rainfall was around 81 per cent of the long period
average, as compared with the 74 per cent figure recorded thus far for
this season. Rice production in 2002-03 fell by 23 per cent from its
2001-02 high of 93.34 million tonnes to 71.82 million tonnes. Things
could be much worse this time around. Second, if previous experience
is the basis for prediction, droughts tend to cluster across time. Thus
2000, 2001 and 2002 all had below normal monsoon, as did 1985, 1986
and 1987. If this cycle repeats this could be the beginning of bad times
for the medium term.
Table
2: Share in 2007-08 Rice Procurement and Rainfall
Deficiency Range by State |
|
Share
in Procurement (Oct-Sep) (%) |
Rainfall
Deficiency Range |
Punjab |
27.7 |
36 |
Andhra Pradesh |
26 |
31-59 |
Uttar Pradesh |
10.1 |
40-46 |
Chhattisgarh |
9.6 |
30 |
Orissa |
8.2 |
4 |
Haryana |
5.5 |
63 |
West Bengal |
5.3 |
25 |
Tamil Nadu |
3.4 |
5 |
Kerala |
0.6 |
14 |
Maharashtra |
0.6 |
20-50 |
Finally,
the evidence of drought occurs at a time when food prices are already
high and rising. Going by annual point-to-point changes in the WPI (relative
to values prevailing a year back), prices on average have been falling
in recent times. After touching a high peak level in August 2008, largely
because of increases in the prices of oil and other primary commodities,
inflation turned negative in June 2009 and has remained so since then.
The figure as on 1 August 2009 stood at a comforting minus 1.74 per
cent. This, of course, is misleading. The annual point-to-point increase
in the monthly CPI for Industrial Workers stood at 9.29 per cent in
June 2009, which is way beyond the negative 1.2 per cent figure for
July yielded by the WPI. Moreover, the month-on-month inflation rate
as measured by the CPI has been above the August 2008 level in seven
of the subsequent ten months.
The principal reason for the difference between the WPI and CPI is that
prices of different sets of commodities in the Indian economy have been
moving very differently. Globally, oil prices, though rising, are below
the peak levels they reached sometime back. The prices of many manufactured
goods have also been falling because of the global recession. On the
other hand the prices of food articles have been rising in recent times.
Thus the Reserve Bank of India's recently released quarterly review
of economic trends had this to say: ''Notwithstanding the negative WPI
inflation, food articles inflation (i.e. primary as well as manufactured)
remains high at 8.9 per cent (as on July 11, 2009). Inflation as per
Consumer Price Indices (CPIs) also continues at elevated levels (in
the range of 8.6 per cent to 11.5 per cent for different consumer price
indices in May/June 2009).''
This raises the question as to the factors behind the price increase.
Production has not fallen. Most recent estimates place the total food
grain production during 2008-09 at a record 233.9 million tonnes. Stocks
with the government are comfortable. There are enough foreign exchange
reserves in the economy to import food. And, if anything, demand expansion
must have been dampened by the slowdown in growth in the economy. To
quote the RBI: ''Weakening aggregate demand emerged as a major constraint
to growth in 2008-09.''
However, the dampening effects of the recession on demand seem to have
affected only the prices of non-food articles and not so much those
of food and certain other essentials. The implications are clear. Speculators
are playing a role in ensuring that prices not only remain high but
continue to rise in a period when normally they should be in decline.
And the fact that for some time now the wholesale price index has conveyed
the impression that inflation is low and even negative has rendered
the government complacent. There has been no concerted effort at reining
in food prices, and all attention has been focused on reviving growth.
And monetary policy aimed at responding to the slowdown in growth is
ensuring that speculators are able to access liquidity quite easily.
The danger of high inflation driven by speculation is only increasing.
Given this context, evidence of a drought is disconcerting because it
can result in an acceleration of food price inflation with economy-wide
consequences, and extremely adverse implications for the poor. The government
is attempting to talk down inflation and the speculative surge by pointing
to the huge stocks it has at hand and the country's strong foreign exchange
reserve position that can be used to import commodities in short supply
to hold the price level. But this ignores the fact that prices of food
articles have already been rising.
It is indeed true that on April 1, 2009 the stocks of rice and wheat
with the government stood at 21.6 and 13.4 million tonnes respectively,
as compared with the official buffer stock requirement of 12.2 and 4
million tonnes respectively for that date. On May 1 stocks were at an
even more comfortable, with 21.4 and 29.8 million tonnes of rice and
wheat. Moreover procurement this season promises to be better than the
last. As on 13 August 2009, procurement of rice during the 2008-09 marketing
season was at 32.5 million tonnes much higher than the 27.1 million
tonnes recorded during the same period last year.
However, there is the larger question of how the government would be
able to reach this food to areas where it is most needed, given the
woefully inadequate coverage of the public distribution system in most
states. Since the movement of foodgrains across states and regions has
been liberalised for many years now, this would affect prices not only
in the deficit areas but elsewhere as well, with traders seeking the
best prices. The government appears to be banking on its open market
sales scheme, or the sale in the open market at predetermined prices,
to dampen prices.
But liberalisation has also increased the role of private traders including
big private players in the foodgrain market. It is they who would corner
these stocks and hold them till prices do rise. The centre is attempting
to shift the burden of dealing with the price rise on to state governments.
Besides accusing them of not doing enough to dishoard private stocks,
it is requiring them to organise the distribution of food. In his speech
to a 19th August, 2009 meeting of Ministers of Food and Civil Supplies
of the state governments, Sharad Pawar, the Minister for Consumer Affairs,
Food and Public Distribution said: ''If required, Government would not
hesitate to undertake open market intervention and release of wheat
and rice under Open Market Sale Scheme to State Governments. State Governments
should in turn gear up and put in place appropriate mechanism to sell
wheat and rice to consumers and ensure these releases check inflationary
trends in the food economy.''
The Centre, in its effort to hold State governments more responsible,
is also pressing them to impose a 50 per cent or more levy on rice millers.
With states not all being in a position to create the necessary network
and handle the distribution process, it is inevitable that the private
sector would be called in. It is at that stage that the effects of speculation
could intensify necessitating strong action if inflation is to be reined
in.
If that happens, the option that would be resorted to is that of imports.
But the situation is not too favourable in global markets either. The
Food and Agriculture Organisation's Crop Prospects and Food Situation
Report released recently, estimates world cereal production in 2009
at 2208 million tonnes, or 3.4 percent down from last year's record
harvest. This is not all bad, since the high base implies that this
would be the second largest crop ever. However, the situation is less
optimistic on the price front. To consider the case of rice for example,
the FAO Rice Price Index which is based on 16 global rice price quotations
indicates that while prices have declined from their peak levels of
around a year ago, they are still close to their 2008 high and well
above levels that prevailed in 2007 and earlier (Chart 3). This, together
with the possibility of rupee depreciation and the difficulty of reaching
imported rice to the final consumer, could imply that even if the government
offers a subsidy, imports may not serve to control the price level.
That may be the cost to be paid for failing to ensure universal coverage
of the PDS, remaining obsessed with targeting in order to limit food
subsidies and liberalising trade of essentials like food grains.