An unprecedented increase in cotton sowing has seen the area under kharif cultivation going up by nearly 20 per cent, data released by the Agriculture ministry on Friday showed.

The area under cultivation at the end of the week stood at 222 lakh hectares as compared to 187 lakh ha against the corresponding week last year, it said.

With most parts of the country receiving good rains as the first month of monsoon activity comes to a close, there is an indication that sowing will pick up further momentum in the coming weeks.

Sowing of cotton so far has been particularly impressive with its acreage registering an increase of almost 2.5 times over the same period last year.

A substantial increase in cotton cultivation in Maharashtra (an increase of 6.51 lakh ha) and Telangana (3.16 lakh ha) has ensured that the acreage under cotton increased to 46 lakh ha from 19 lakh ha this week during the previous year.

Pulses acreage up

The area under pulses, too, has risen by over 40 per cent to 18.8 lakh ha as compared to 13.04 lakh ha in the corresponding week last year.

Most of the increase in pulses cultivation was reported from Rajasthan (5.63 lakh ha), Madhya Pradesh (2.1 lakh ha) and Karnataka (1.05 lakh ha), the ministry data showed.

Sowing of paddy and oilseeds has, however, become sluggish. There is a 10 per cent drop in oilseeds cultivation, at 25.9 lakh ha, as compared to 28.35 lakh ha in the corresponding week last year. Rice, too, has lost momentum with sowing hardly keeping up with last year’s 39.08 lakh ha.

There has been no increase in the sugarcane area, which remained at last week’s level of 47.52 lakh ha, the government figures showed.

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