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The untimely rains also delayed winter sowing of wheat, chickpeas, vegetables and other crops.Heavy rains in October and November have
brought more misery to farmers, after summer-sown crops such as soybean, cotton, rice and vegetables suffered rain and flood damage during
the wettest June-September monsoon season in 25 years."We couldn't harvest soybeans last month due to continuous rainfall," said Shantabai
Chikhale, 65, while harvesting with her son on a one acre plot in Maharashtra, India's second largest soybean production state.Ms Chikhale
had been expecting a bumper crop, but now estimates that two-thirds of the soybean pods on her farm in Kalamb village were knocked off by
the rains, while much of the remaining crop has been damaged.The recent wet spell is also forcing farmers, like Ms Chikhale, to delay sowing
winter crops, placing a further drag on the rural economy at a time when country's economic growth has slumped to a six-year low.After the
ample monsoon rains, The Solvent Extractors' Association (SEA) had expected India soybean harvest to be more than 10 million tonnes, just a
little down on 2018's 10.3 million tonnes.But heavy recent rains damaged the crop in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, which account for
Mehta, executive director of the SEA.As a result local soybean prices have risen to their highest in 3-1/2 years, making exports of soymeal
uncompetitive, traders said.Lower soybean production could force India, the world's biggest importer of edible oils, to import more in
2019/20 marketing year that started on October 1, said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm.OTHER CROPS HITThe deluge also hit
cotton in the world's biggest producer.Cotton bolls were damaged by late rains in Maharashtra and Gujarat, which account for over half of
the country's output, said Arun Sekhsaria, managing director of exporter DD Cotton.0Until a few weeks ago, industry officials such as
production in 2019 from a year ago.But now Mr Jain says the production could rise by 10 to 12 per cent.Cyclone Bulbul also soaked the
eastern states of Odisha and West Bengal last week, damaging rice crops in these key producing states, said Nitin Gupta, vice president for
Olam India's rice business."Supplies from the new season crop for exports have been delayed by around two weeks," Mr Gupta said.Sugar
said Prakash Naiknavare, head of the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories.The heavy downpours also elevated prices of
delayed winter sowing of wheat, chickpeas, vegetables and other crops."I need to harvest soybean before planting sugarcane
But soybean harvesting has already been delayed," says Ms Chikhale.Get Breaking news, live coverage, and Latest News from India and around
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