The Hindu Business Line : Rabi rice, jowar sowing still down

SOWING in rabi rice, jowar, groundnut continues to lag behind on rains in South India. Rice acreage is down in Andhra Pradesh, while jowar and groundnut coverage has dipped in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, acreage under rice has declined by 57,000 hectares compared with the corresponding period last year. Coverage is down in Andhra Pradesh (by 70,000 hectares) and Kerala (by 10,000 hectares.

Wheat sowing seems to be in full swing and its acreage is up by 14.98 lakh hectares (lh) compared with the year ago period. Gains come from Gujarat (2.2 lh), Maharashtra (2 lh), Rajasthan (3.5 lh) and Uttar Pradesh (11.4 lh). The coverage has taken a beating in Assam, Haryana, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Assam.

Sowing in coarse cereals is down by 1.76 lh with area under jowar declining by 2.96 lh. The loss has been made up by rise in area under maize (35,000 hectares) and barley (61,000 hectares).

The area under pulses is showing an improvement of 77,000 hectares with coverage of gram rising by 2.75 lh.

Rabi oilseeds sowing has increased by 2.79 lh with major rise in mustard/rapeseed coverage (up 4.71 lh). With sowing being tardy in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, area under groundnut is down by 98,000 hectares. Area under safflower and sunflower has also declined by 30,000 hectares each with coverage dipping in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. However, Karnataka's area under sunflower is up a tad.

Meanwhile, the storage level in the 76 major reservoirs in the country continues to be encouraging. The level is 94.88 billion cubic metres (BCM) against the full level of 133.02 BCM. Compared to last year, it is up by 26.96 BCM. It is also 23 per cent more than the last 10 years average.