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Chennai , Sept. 4

SOWING activity continues to be brisk with the monsoon turning active again towards the last week of August. While sowing in jute, sugarcane, soyabean and jowar has been completed, it is still on in rice, bajra, other coarse cereals and pulses.

According to an Agriculture Ministry release, a record 36 lakh hectares (lh) have been covered under tur against the normal area of 34 lh. Last year, only 33 lh were covered. This has helped pulses sowing to touch 118 lh as on September 1 as against 100 lh during the same period last year.

As monsoon activity picked up towards the middle of August, sowing in bajra and maize also gathered momentum. So far, 220 lh have been covered as against 179 lh.

With soyabean sowing drawing to a close, the action in oilseeds is confined to groundnut and other seeds. Till September 1, 147 lh have been brought under different oilseeds against a normal area of 155 lh and 127 lh last year.

Sowing activity in rice also continues in full swing with about 320lh (262lh) being covered against a normal area of 406 lh.

The report said rainfall had adequately covered most parts of the country resulting in good to satisfactory sowing.

The good monsoon coverage has also resulted in the storage level rising in various parts of the country.

The total water storage, as monitored by the Central Water Commission, in 71 important reservoirs is about 49 per cent of the full reservoir level, which 118 per cent of last year's level and 78 per cent of the average of the last 10 years.

Locusts, pests and insect attacks also continue to be under control, according to the release.

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Sowing picks up as monsoon turns active

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