Kharif sowing till date 4.2 per cent higher than last year

The area sown under the seven kharif crops in the on-going sowing season till date at 1054.49 lakh hectare is about 4.2 per cent more than the sowing in the same period last year due to better monsoon rains this year.

The total acreage till September 9 2016, as per figures released by the Agriculture Ministry on Friday, is just a little short of the five year average of total kharif acreage of 1062.50 lakh hectares annually.

The acreage under rice, pulses, coarse cereals and oilseeds continue to be higher than the sowing in the same period last year while cotton, sugarcane and jute are lagging.

Sowing of rice at 380.28 lakh hectare is higher than 370.04 lakh hectare sown in the comparable period last year.

Acreage under pulses at 143.95 lakh hectare till September 9 2016 is not only higher than last year’s sowing in the same period of 111.48 lakh hectare, but is also more than the last five year’s average normal area acreage of 108.69 lakh hectare.

Sowing of coarse cereals at 187.86 lakh hectare till now in the present kharif season is higher than last year’s 177.05 lakh hectare in the same period last season.

Oilseeds acreage, too, at 186.95 lakh hectare this kharif, is higher than last season’s sowing of 181.70 lakh hectare in the same period, as per the release.

With farmers switching to other crops following crop destruction last year by white flies in Punjab and Haryana, sowing of cotton declined to 102.13 lakh hectare this year compared to 114.75 lakh hectare in the same period last year.

Sugarcane sowing declined slightly to 45.77 lakh hectare, as per the latest figures, compared to 49.60 lakh hectare in the same period last season.

Sowing of jute & mesta, too, went down marginally to 7.56 lakh hectare compared to 7.73 lakh hectare sown in the same period last year.

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