With the southwest monsoon season (June-September) set to end with precipitation below 90% of the benchmark long-period average (LPA), and rainfall distribution remaining highly uneven across regions, yields of several crops, particularly paddy, pulses and oilseeds, are likely to be affected, according to experts and agriculture trade sources across the country. This comes despite the total area sown under kharif crops being only marginally lower than last year’s level. Last year, the kharif production hit a record level of 176 million tonne, thanks to two successive years of above-normal monsoon rains.