The Kharif sowing gap is narrowing but the acreage remains below the level of a year ago | Today’s news
New Delhi: Kharif sowing continued to lag behind last year’s pace, with farmers planting the crop on 78.7 million hectares as of July 24, compared to 82.6 million hectares in the same period a year earlier, according to agriculture ministry data.
Area under key kharif crops, including paddy, pulses, oilseeds and cotton, remained below last year’s levels, although the overall sowing gap narrowed in recent weeks as monsoon rainfall improved in several regions.
Among major crops, rice area was 23.4 million hectares, down 619,000 hectares from a year ago. Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Haryana, Gujarat, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana lagged behind in the area of sowing. Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh reported higher acreage.
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Oilseeds also fell short of last year’s level at 16.3 million hectares, down 345,000 hectares from last year, led by lower soybean and groundnut acreage. Soybean acreage lagged by 359,000 hectares, while groundnut was lower by 58,000 hectares.
The area under Shri Anna (coarse cereals) was 14.2 million hectares, down 1.9 million hectares from last year, led by a lower crop of bajra and maize. Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Haryana, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Pulses drop
The total area of legumes fell to 8.4 million hectares, 690,000 hectares less than last year. Arhar sowing fell by 410,000 hectares, moong bean by 150,000 hectares and moth by 260,000 hectares. However, Urdbean saw an increase in area of 139,000 hectares, taking the total area to touch 1.86 million hectares.
Major states with smaller area are Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. Higher area recorded in Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and TamilNadu.
Sugarcane was one of the few crops to see an increase, with acreage rising to 5.7 million hectares, up 86,000 hectares from last year. The area planted to cotton was 9.8 million hectares, 399,000 hectares less than last year.
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The overall sowing gap has narrowed in recent weeks as monsoon rainfall has improved in several regions, although uneven rainfall continues to weigh on planting in parts of eastern and central India.
“The latest kharif sowing data shows a gradual recovery in the season, but the pace of recovery is not very uniform across crops,” said MK Dhanuka, chairman of Dhanuka Agritech Ltd, an agrochemical manufacturing company. “While rice and oilseeds have shown encouraging progress, pulses and coarse grains continue to lag, reflecting continued regional differences in field conditions.”
The focus should shift beyond acreage alone, he said. The quality of crop establishment over the next few weeks will have a greater impact on productivity than gains in planted area.
Agriculture experts expect sowing to pick up if monsoon activity intensifies in the coming weeks.
Cumulative monsoon rainfall between 1 June and 22 July was 19% below normal, with the East and North-East recording the largest deficit at 32%, followed by the Southern Peninsula (26%), North-West India (13%) and Central India (9%).
The India Meteorological Department has forecast sub-normal rainfall for July, less than 94% of the long-term average (LPA). The forecast came after the country recorded its driest June in more than a decade – and the fifth driest since records began in 1901 – with southwest monsoon rainfall 39.8% below the LPA. India received 99.5 mm of rainfall during the month, against the normal 165.3 mm.
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