Question

Read the passage and answer the question. Passage: The Indian monsoon is more than a season of rain; it is the lifeline of the country's farming economy. Nearly half of India's farmland depends on rain rather than irrigation, so the timing and spread of the monsoon decide whether a farmer sows on time or waits anxiously for the skies to open. A timely monsoon fills reservoirs, recharges groundwater and allows the sowing of rice, pulses and oilseeds across millions of hectares. But the monsoon is erratic: it may arrive early in one region and weeks late in another, and heavy rain in a few days can be followed by a long dry spell. A delayed monsoon pushes sowing back, shrinks the growing season and raises the cost of diesel for pumping water, while a very heavy monsoon can flood fields and wash away young crops. Forecasters now track the monsoon with satellites and weather models, yet for the farmer in the field it remains a gamble each year. That is why governments build buffer stocks of grain and expand irrigation, so that one bad season does not become a food crisis. The word “erratic” in the passage is closest in meaning to: