Area under kharif pulses, coarse cereals drops

A shift towards commercial crops such as cotton, castor and soyabean has resulted in the kharif area under coarse cereals, pulses and groundnut dropping.

According to data from the Agriculture Ministry, even the area under maize, which witnessed record production as well as price last year, has declined this kharif season.

Rice, cotton, soyabean, sesamum, sugarcane, jute and castor are the crops that have gained this year.

Despite farmers going on a crop holiday in coastal Andhra Pradesh this year, the area under rice is up at 348.78 lakh hectares (lh) against 312.76 lh during the same time a year ago.

Higher acreage of rice has been reported from Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

In the case of coarse grains, area under maize, bajra and jowar are lower. The drop is higher in the case of bajra and jowar.

This is because in Rajasthan which accounts for most of the area under jowar, farmers have opted for soyabean. In some cases, they have also gone in for guar even as guarseed and guar gum prices touched record high earlier this month.

The largest-growing In the case of bajra, in Maharashtra have shifted to soyabean.

Area under maize has dropped since some farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have shifted to cotton.

In the case of oilseeds, while soyabean has gained, groundnut has taken a hit. Farmers in Gujarat have shifted from groundnut to cotton for two reasons. One, last year the groundnut crop has hit by unseasonal rain. The other reason is that cotton prices, despite sharp fall since April, are still higher than last year. Hopes of the Centre allowing unlimited exports are also seen as another source of encouragement.

A record area has come under castor this year with some of groundnut farmers in Gujarat choosing to go in for the commercial crop. India dominates castor oil trade and accounts for over 50 per cent of the global production and nearly 80 per cent of the trade. Andhra Pradesh, too, has seen a rise in area under castor as also Rajasthan.

The area under cotton has been reported at 118.05 lh against 107.53 lh. Whether this will translate into a record production remains to be seen. The Cotton Advisory Board meeting scheduled for August 30 should throw some light on the crop’s progress.

Area under sugarcane has increased as also under jute, thanks to good rain in Bengal.

Meanwhile, the water level in the 81 major reservoirs in the country is 26 per cent higher at present compared with the year-ago period.

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