The Hindu Business Line : July rains boost kharif coverage of all crops

Reasonably good rains during the crucial month of July have ensured that kharif acreages are significantly higher this year for all crops, barring groundnut, castor, bajra (pearl millet) and jowar (sorghum).

According to the latest report of the Agriculture Ministry's Crop Weather Watch Group released here on Monday, the total area under rice reported so far, at 192.64 lakh hectares (lh), is higher than the 180.72 lh covered during the period in the previous season. The increase has been mainly in Uttar Pradesh (from 28.75 to 32.97 lh), Chhattisgarh (from 25.59 to 26.46 lh), Punjab (from 25.21 to 25.25 lh), Orissa (from 18.46 to 20.21 lh) and Bihar (from 13.15 to 17.33 lh), while falling from 14 to 12.96 lh in West Bengal and from 9.90 to 9.10 lh in Haryana.

What this means is that the country can look forward to another bumper paddy crop, which will also aid procurement for the Central pool. During the current 2005-06 marketing season (October-September), official rice purchases are expected to touch 290 lakh tonnes, which have to some extent be compensated for the decline in wheat production and stocks in public godowns.

There has been a similar rise in progressive area under maize from 58.95 to 64.10 lh, led by Rajasthan (from 8.36 to 8.81 lh), Madhya Pradesh (from 7.98 to 8.43 lh), Karnataka (from 6.03 to 7.34 lh), Maharashtra (from 4.10 to 4.64 lh) and Gujarat (from 2.75 to 4.07 lh).

On the other hand, bajra coverage has declined from 61.06 to 54.01 lh, mainly because of Rajasthan (from 31.13 to 23.17 lh), even while going up from 10.36 to 12.74 lh for Maharashtra.

Madhya Pradesh has reported higher acreage under jowar (from 4.79 to 5.11 lh), but this has again been offset by a fall from 4.08 to 2.74 lh in Rajasthan and from 13.99 to 13.66 lh in Maharashtra. As a result, the overall jowar coverage has dipped from 31.02 to 29.35 lh. On the whole, cumulative area under coarse cereals is a trifle lower this year (160.88 lh) compared to last year's 157.11 lh.

In pulses, there has been an overall rise in progressive coverage from 72.18 to 74.89 lh, led by arhar (from 24.62 to 27.54 lh), moong (from 18.12 to 18.41 lh) and urad (from 13.40 to 16.85 lh).

In commercial crops, cotton area reported so far, at 80.39 lh, is substantially more than last year's corresponding level of 67.07 lh. The rise has been mainly in Maharashtra (from 21.91 to 29.56 lh), Gujarat (from 16.74 to 21.87 lh) and Punjab (from 5.57 to 6.18 lh), while Andhra Pradesh (from 7.03 to 6.69 lh), Haryana (from 5.7 to 5.3 lh) and Rajasthan (from 3.86 to 2.29 lh) have recorded declines.

In the case of oilseeds, there has been a fall in total acreage, from 138.94 to 129.19 lh, basically on account of groundnut (from 45.42 to 34.72 lh), sesamum (11.72 to 10.74 lh) and castor (from 4.92 to 3.09 lh). Against this, soyabean and sunflower have witnessed a significant step up, from 70.56 to 73.41 lh and from 4.51 to 6.47 lh, respectively.

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