The Hindu Business Line : Kharif sowing up on good monsoon, higher prices

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Kharif sowing up on good monsoon, higher prices

Area under rice, coarse cereals, oilseeds rises

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Aug 31 A combination of reasonably good monsoon rainfall and remunerative prices has led to farmers planting higher area under virtually all kharif crops this year.

The Agriculture Ministry’s latest Crop Weather Watch report, released here on Friday, show increased acreages under rice (paddy), coarse cereals (particularly bajra and jowar), pulses, oilseeds (especially soybean and groundnut), cotton and sugarcane.

Inflationary pressure

All this augurs well for containment of inflationary pressures, which has posed the single biggest challenge for the present Government at the Centre. A bumper kharif oilseeds crop, in conjunction with the current softening in international prices, will help prevent any undesirable spurt in edible oil prices during the coming festival season.

Similarly, the increase in production of maize and oil-meal will hopefully make animal feed more affordable. And that, in turn, can have a sobering effect on milk and dairy product prices, which have threatened to spiral out of control in the recent period.

Rainfall

The South-West monsoon’s performance has been a big factor behind boosting acreages this time round. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the country as a whole has received an area-weighted rainfall of 715.3 millimetres (mm) during the current monsoon season (June-September) till August 28, which is 1.6 per cent higher than the ‘normal’ long period average of 703.9 mm for this period.

The entire western, southern, eastern and central India regions (barring pockets like Marathwada and eastern Madhya Pradesh) have recorded good rainfall this time. The only really parched region, from an agricultural standpoint, has been North-West India, comprising Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.

Best scenario

But since these areas have perennial irrigation cover and the heavy rains in Uttaranchal and the upper reaches have supplied the canals with adequate water, there is no immediate cause for worry.

The best scenario would be in the event of a late monsoon recovery by mid-September, which will ensure sufficient sub-soil moisture for the ensuing sowing of wheat, mustard and gram.

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