The Hindu Business Line : Coverage of most crops up as kharif sowing peaks

New Delhi, July 4 Even as the headline inflation rate scales new 13-year-peaks every week, there is some good news. Timely monsoon rains and remunerative crop prices have induced farmers to significantly expand sowing area during the ongoing kharif season. And this could probably go a long way in dousing inflationary expectations.

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The Agriculture Ministry’s latest Crop Weather Watch report shows a sizeable step-up in area sown so far under most crops–from rice, maize, bajra and jowar to groundnut, soyabean and pulses–compared to last year’s corresponding coverage. The only major crops to have witnessed a decline in plantings are cotton and sugarcane.

In cotton, sowing is complete in North-West India, with all the three main States reporting lower acreage–Punjab (from 6.04 to 5.6 lakh hectares), Haryana (4.83 to 4.18 lakh hectares) and Rajasthan (3.50 to 1.36 lakh hectares). Even Andhra Pradesh (AP) has recorded a decrease (from 3.51 to 1.82 lakh hectares), with only Gujarat till now registering an increase (from 0.56 to 2.35 lakh hectares).

Both Punjab and Haryana farmers have apparently chosen to devote more area this time to rice (from 8.11 to 10.48 lakh hectares and from 1.70 to 2.25 lakh hectares, respectively), while Rajasthan has seen a substantial stepping up in planting of bajra (from 4.14 to 23.08 lakh hectares), maize (from 0.45 to 5.52 lakh hectares) and jowar (0.11 to 3.34 lakh hectares). Rajasthan has further recorded increased area under groundnut (from 1.22 to 2.73 lakh hectares) and soyabean (from 0.52 to 4.23 lakh hectares).

All this has obviously been promoted by the early arrival of the monsoon showers. The potential threat of the mealy bug pest has led to less area coming under cotton in the three North-West States.

Cane area declines

Farmers have instead opted to plant more paddy and coarse cereals, which also promise better returns owing to higher prices and lower costs incurred on irrigation.

In sugarcane, there has been an over 17 per cent drop in area, with UP (from 21.33 to 18.6 lakh hectares), Maharashtra (10.88 to seven lakh hectares), Tamil Nadu (3.86 to 3.58 lakh hectares), Karnataka (2.19 to 1.97 lakh hectares), Gujarat (2.16 to 2.08 lakh hectares), Andhra Pradesh (2.47 to 1.45 lakh hectares) and Haryana (1.5 to 1.25 lakh hectares) reporting lower coverage. With sugar mills running up huge payment arrears, growers have chosen to divert cane area to other crops.

In oilseeds, the area under groundnut and soyabean has gone up. Groundnut area has increased in Gujarat (from 12.19 to 13.65 lakh hectares), while soybean acreages are higher in Madhya Pradesh (from 7.27 to 13.90 lakh hectares) and lower in Maharashtra (from 11.96 to 4.20 lakh hectares).

A big stimulus for overall higher sowing rates so far has been the performance of the South-West monsoon. During the season (June-September) as on July 2, the country as a whole has received a cumulative area-weighted rainfall of 217.1 millimetres (mm), 21 per cent more than the long period average (LPA) of 180.1 mm for this period.

Moreover, as many as 20 out of the 36 meteorological sub-divisions have reported above-LPA levels of precipitation. The only problem regions as of now seem to be Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, northern Karnataka, Kerala and mainland Gujarat.