The agriculture ministry warned this week that the production of kharif or monsoon crops would be marginally lower this year than in the previous year. The difference could be because of the uneven distribution of rainfall from the south-west monsoon. Mint reported earlier this week that while the overall monsoon deficit was only 5%, 212 of the 630 districts in India had deficits of at least 20%, according to the weather office, while 100 had a surplus of at least 20%.