India's monsoon rainfall, the main source of irrigation for the country's 235 million farmers, is the weakest in more than three decades, threatening farm output in the world's second-biggest producer of rice, wheat and sugar. Falls in the June-September season are 23 percent below the long-period average, the most since the 23.4 percent deficit in 1972, said meteorologist Ajit Tyagi. Sugar jumped to a 28-year high amid forecasts that India, the biggest user, will remain the largest buyer after a drought in half the nation hurt crops of cane, rice and oilseeds. Rains returned in mid August, following a driest June in eight decades, filling up lakes and aiding efforts by PM Manmohan Singh's government to lift winter-sown crops like wheat. (Bloomberg)
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