The Hindu Business Line : Rains hamper rabi rice, cereals sowing

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, seven of the 36 meteorological sub-divisions in the country have received excess rainfall during the post-monsoon season from October. South India, in particular, has received 58 per cent excess rainfall during the period.

As a result, coverage of rice has been affected in Andhra Pradesh (-70,000 hectares compared with the same period a year ago) and Kerala (-10,000 hectares). Though Tamil Nadu's coverage of rice is up 30,000 hectares, a final picture is awaited pending reports of damage by the rains.

Overall, sowing of rice in the country is down by 61,000 hectares to 5.59 lakh hectares (lh) during the current rabi season compared with last year.

Wheat acreage has increased by nearly four lh to 180.65 lh with gains coming from Bihar, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. However, sowing in Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana is lagging.

Coarse cereals coverage is down 1.82 lh to 61.35 lh with jowar sowing slipping by 3.11 lh to 48.22 lh. Area under jowar is showing a dip in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. The area under maize and barley is up 73,000 hectares and 38,000 hectares respectively.

The coverage of pulses has improved by 2.54 lh to 105.09 lh with the area under gram up 86,000 hectares at 62.82 lh. While there has been a 3.8 lh decline in gram coverage in Madhya Pradesh, it has increased in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Karnataka.

Oilseeds sowing has gone up by 3.09 lh to 93.12 lh with rapeseed making up 69.48 lh (64.48 lh) of it. Area under rapeseed has gone up in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar but has declined by 20,000 hectares in Chhattisgarh.

Groundnut coverage is showing an 81,000 hectares dip with area down in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. Sowing in safflower, linseed and sunflower is also lagging behind, while coverage of sesamum has improved.

Meanwhile, the water level in the 76 major reservoirs in the country is 139 per cent of last year's storage level and 123 per cent of the last 10 years' average. Currently, the storage level is 97.68 billion cubic metres (BCM) against the total storage of 133.02 BCM.

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