The Hindu Business Line : More acreage under kharif crops this year

New Delhi, Sept. 14 Acreages under most kharif crops have gone up this year, courtesy reasonably good monsoon rains and expectation of remunerative prices.

The Union Agriculture Ministry’s latest Crop Weather Watch Report, released here on Friday, shows that farmers have planted more area under rice, coarse cereals (including maize and bajra), pulses, cotton, oilseeds (especially soybean and groundnut), sugarcane and jute so far this year, compared to the corresponding period of 2006.

Major factor

The major factor influencing higher coverage has been the performance of the South-West monsoon. The current season (June-September) has recorded an area-weighted rainfall of 822.1 millimetres (mm) for the country as a whole, which is three per cent more than the historical ‘normal’ (long period average) of 798.5 mm for this period.

All regions, barring Uttar Pradesh, eastern Madhya Pradesh and North-West India, have till now reported normal precipitation. Even here, assured irrigation facilities in most parts of North-West India and western UP, have meant that the lack of rains has not translated into any significant moisture stress.

Rainfall towards the month-end would, however, be useful for the ensuing wheat, mustard and gram crops that would be sown from mid-October.

Production target

Meanwhile, the Agriculture Ministry has targeted wheat production for 2007-08 at 75.50 million tonnes (mt), as against the fourth advance estimate of 74.89 mt for 2006-07. The corresponding targets for rapeseed-mustard and gram have been set at 7.52 mt and 6.4 mt, respectively.

Total production of foodgrains for 2007-08 has been targeted at 221.50 mt (93 mt rice, 75.5 mt wheat, 37.5 mt coarse cereals, and 15.5 mt pulses), while that for oilseeds is at 30 mt