Comments
Rains in the past week did help narrow the monsoon deficit, but the gap in kharif acreage of crops, such as rice and oilseeds, has widened compared to last year.
As on Friday, the total area under kharif crops was down by 83.34 lakh hectares (lh) or 19 per cent at 351.04 lh. Monsoon that covered the entire country last week reduced the deficit to around 23 per cent from 31 per cent a fortnight ago.
As a result, the planting of oilseeds, rice, pulses and coarse cereals picked up though the shortfall in acreage persists compared to last year.
Rice acreage picked up in Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Odisha during the week, though it is still sluggish in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
oilseeds
With parts of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan receiving good rain in the past few days, cultivation of oilseeds such as groundnut and soyabean has gathered momentum. Groundnut has been planted in Gujarat on about 3.94 lh, down by one lh over the previous year. Acreage in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka has almost halved due to poor rain.
Soyabean acreage stood at 54.51 lh, which is higher than the normal area but less than last year’s 67.33 lh. Maharashtra has seen a rise in area of 5 lh at 20.15 lh, while planting has picked up in Madhya Pradesh, though the acreage is less than last year.
The area under pulses trails that of last year, mainly due to massive acreage shortfall in Rajasthan. Total acreage under tur or arhar is marginally higher at 9.5 lh, while sowing of urad and moong has been hit resulting in lower area.
Cash crops
Surprisingly, cotton acreage registered an increase of 6 lh, as farmers in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra brought more area under the fibre. The area under sugarcane continued to rise marginally as farmers in Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Gujarat planted more.
However, the acreage under coarse cereals has seen a major dip with Rajasthan, Karnataka and Bihar planting less of bajra, ragi and millets.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.