After a sluggish start, sowing of kharif crops such as paddy has picked up pace this week on account of good rains in several parts of the country, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said today.

Till last week, total acreage under kharif (summer) crops was down 23 per cent to 215.87 lakh hectares because of inadequate rainfall in June. Sowing of kharif (summer) crops begins with the onset of southwest monsoon from June and harvesting is done from October onwards. Paddy is the main kharif crop.

“Several parts of the country received good rainfall. The monsoon situation has improved and sowing of kharif crops has picked up pace in many places,” Singh told reporters. The kharif sowing is expected to improve further as good rainfall is predicted for the months of July, August and September, he added.

Echoing similar views, Agriculture Secretary SK Pattanayak said: “Good rains in several states have boosted sowing operations. The gap in sowing area has come down. Till last week, there was a gap of 60 lakh hectares, but this has come down to 30 lakh hectares in just last three days.” Planting of paddy, pulses, oilseeds, and even cotton is expected to improve in the coming days, he told PTI.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the overall monsoon deficiency has reduced to 9 per cent after several parts of the country received good rains. IMD has forecast overall monsoon to be better than normal this year and the government is targeting a record foodgrain production of 270.10 million tonnes in 2016-17.

Aiming to double farmers’ income in the next five years, Radha Mohan Singh said farm mechanisation will bring down the cost of cultivation by up to 25 per cent and raise production by 20 per cent.

Mechanisation push He also said that raising support price of agri-crops will not suffice, as there is a need to bring down the cost of cultivation, for which, use of innovative farm machineries is the need of the hour. The Centre is promoting farm mechanisation in a big way under various programmes and has been setting up more testing and training centres across the country, he added.

“Farm mechanisation is key for modernising agriculture sector. Use of agri-machineries will help increase production by 20 per cent and bring down the cost of cultivation by 20-25 per cent. This is the need of the hour,” Singh said addressing an event on this issue.

Asserting that farm machineries need to be promoted both in agriculture and allied sectors to address labour shortage, the minister said the states should take equal interest and spend allocated central funds for this purpose.

“We don’t have shortage of funds. The problem is that states are not utilising funds properly and timely.”

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW