<div>Monsoon was less than average for a second straight week but with summer crops such as rice, cane, soybean and cotton well established after swift planting in a heavy start to the season, an early end to the rains should not create problems.</div><div> </div><div>Rainfall was 30 per cent below average in the week ending September 4 compared with 29 per cent below the previous week, the weather office's latest data showed on 5 September.</div><div> </div><div>The monsoon rains usually start retreating from western India by mid-September, but this year they could lift earlier. Summer crops do not need heavy rains at this stage of growth but just sporadic showers to aid the maturing process.</div><div> </div><div>The monsoon, vital for 55 per cent of Indian farmland that does not have irrigation, was the heaviest in nearly two decades during the first half of the season with the fastest ever coverage of the country - almost a month ahead of schedule.</div><div> </div><div>The ample rains from the beginning of the monsoon season in June make bumper harvests likely and that will mean higher rural incomes in the world's second most populous country, which could improve retail sales and help rural growth.</div><div> </div><div>India, one of the world's biggest producers and consumers of farm commodities, is heavily reliant on the annual monsoon for its huge harvests of rice, sugar and cash crops like cotton.</div><div><br />(Reuters)<br /> </div>
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