Agriculture Secretary Ashish Bahuguna has said that rainfall is expected to be better next month as monsoon is unlikely to be influenced by the El Nino weather pattern. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function in New Delhi today, Mr Bahuguna said, better rains in September will help in retaining soil moisture and support sowing of rabi crops. Mr Bhahuguna expressed hope that there may be more rainy days ahead as monsoon could withdraw late from north-west India.

On Kharif crops situation, Mr Bhahuguna said, the crop health looks better and the gap in sowing area has been made up due to the recent spell of rains. He added, the recent rains will help area under coarse cereals to pick up, especially, ragi in Karnataka and bajra and jowar in Rajasthan.

AIR Correspondent reports that El Nino refers to abnormal warming of surface ocean waters in the Pacific that disrupts weather pattern causing drought and floods in many regions of the world.