The Hindu Business Line : Rains, price trends favour North in kharif sowing

Ground reality
Rice planting higher in UP, Bihar, Chhattisgarh
Rajasthan does well in jowar, soyabean; M.P. in soyabean, urad
Cotton acreage lower in Maharashtra, AP

Harish Damodaran

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New Delhi, July 18 With the monsoon playing truant south of the Vindhyas this time, a clear pattern pointing towards a regional divergence of agricultural fortunes is emerging.

While farmers in the Hindi heartland and even the East seem headed for a good time — courtesy copious rainfall and remunerative crop price trends — the prospects are less than sanguine in parched western and southern India.

The Met Department’s data on rainfall for the current southwest monsoon season (June-September) till July 16 shows a cumulative deficiency of 24 per cent in mainland Gujarat, 22 per cent in Saurashtra-Kutch, 41 per cent in madhya Maharashtra, 65 per cent in Marathwada, 36 per cent in Vidarbha, 33 per cent in Telangana, 32 per cent in coastal Andhra, 30 per cent in Rayalaseema, 50 per cent in north interior Karnataka, 25 per cent in south interior Karnataka, 29 per cent in coastal Karnataka, 41 per cent in Kerala, and 12 per cent in Tamil Nadu.

It is quite the opposite in the areas north of the Vindhyas. Overall precipitation has been 17 per cent above average in west Madhya Pradesh, 29 per cent in east Madhya Pradesh, 24 per cent in west Rajasthan, 54 per cent in east Rajasthan, 100 per cent in Punjab, 80 per cent in Haryana-Delhi, 86 per cent in west Uttar Pradesh (UP), 79 per cent in east UP, 37 per cent in Bihar, 28 per cent each in Jharkhand and Orissa, and 59 per cent in West Bengal.

All this is reflected in kharif sowing patterns. While rice planting this year is overall higher at 148.88 lakh hectares (lh), against last year’s corresponding 121.18 lh, this has mainly been due to increases in UP (from 14.54 to 36.41), Bihar (7.23 to 9.1) and Chhattisgarh (17.29 to 21.48).

Rajasthan has likewise recorded huge jumps in bajra (9.62 to 27.25), maize (1.53 to 7.05), jowar (1.19 to 4.19), moong (1.16 to 5.72) and soyabean (2.61 to 6.76). Madhya Pradesh, too, has seen expansions for soyabean (30.5 to 42.53), arhar (1.44 to 2.07) and urad (1.43 to 2.53).

On the other hand, Maharashtra has suffered acreage dips in cotton (26.19 to 17.09), soyabean (17.97 to 11.39), sugarcane (10.88 to 7.0), jowar (8.47 to 1.88), bajra (7.1 to 0.2), maize (3.76 to 0.67), arhar (7.62 to 4.56), urad (4.25 to 1.77) and moong (5.07 to 2.46).

Andhra Pradesh has reported lower coverage of cotton (8.68 to 5.92) groundnut (5.28 to 1.9) and maize (4.01 to 1.93), while Karnataka’s area has shrunk in maize (7.65 to 4.74), bajra (3.2 to 0.56) and groundnut (3.32 to 1.07). Farmers in the two States have also cut back on pulses plantings.