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With the monsoon covering the entire country this week, sowing of kharif crops till July 15, at 559.76 lakh hectares (lh), surpassed last year’s acreage of 548.38 lh as farmers planted more rice, pulses, coarse cereals, oilseeds and sugarcane.
Cotton was the only crop that witnessed a drop in acreage, at 75.41 lh in the June to July 15 period this year, compared to 93.22 lh in the same period last year. Farmers sowed less of the crop due to white fly attacks and delayed rain.
The sowing data, based on inputs provided by States, was released by the Agriculture Ministry on Friday.
The acreage under rice till July 15 was 123.93 lh compared to 122.99 lakh hectares in the same period last year, as sowing in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh improved.
Sowing of pulses during this period, at 71.07 lh, was markedly more than the 51.12 lh of area sown in the comparable period last year. Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan were primarily responsible for the increase in sowing of pulses.
The acreage under oilseeds till July 15 was 130.12 lh (127.13 lh). Sugarcane acreage also improved, albeit marginally, to 45.78 lh (44.80 lh).
Jute acreage was almost at the same level at 7.47 lh (7.67 lh).
Record harvest aheadAccording to the Agriculture Ministry, the country is moving towards a record kharif harvest with the South-West monsoon expected to be above normal.
The cumulative rainfall so far in the monsoon season stood at 301.3 mm for the June 1 to July 15 period, about 1 per cent higher than the normal of 298.9 mm for the period.
A total of 31 meteorological sub-divisions, accounting for 86 per cent of the geographical area of the country, have received normal-to-excess rains, whereas only five sub-divisions received deficient rains for the period.
Among the sub-divisions that received deficient rains are Gujarat, Saurashtra, Kutch, Bihar, Assam & Meghalaya and NMMT (Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura). The pick-up in rains across the country has also resulted in an improvement of water levels in reservoirs.
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