Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council today said poor monsoon is likely to pull down farm sector growth rate to 0.5 per cent in the current financial year, a projection that is even lower than in 2009-10 when monsoon was the worst in 28 years.

The growth in the agriculture sector was one per cent in

2009-10 when production had fallen by 16 million tonnes due to poor monsoon. As many as 338 districts were declared drought- affected in that year.

The farm sector had expanded at a rate of 2.8 per cent in the last fiscal.

PMEAC Chairman C Rangarajan while releasing the Economic Outlook for 2012-13 said that farm sector GDP is projected to grow at 0.5 per cent in 2012-13 due to the impact of weak monsoon on agriculture.

Monsoon this year is deficient by 10 per cent. As per the

Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast, August

rainfall is likely to be normal but September rains may be low

due to El Nino effects in the Pacific, the report said.The PMEAC also suggested that the government should make a determined move to dismantle the system of agriculture subsidieswithout causing disarray. It stated that the subsidies are losing their relevance and becoming unbearable fiscal burden.