Area sowed under Kharif crosses 100 million hectares

As the current kharif sowing season draws to a close, farmers across the country have planted 1,063 lakh hectares (lh), as much as in the corresponding period of the previous season, with oilseeds, cotton and coarse cereals registering an increase over the previous year.

According to the kharif sowing data released by the Agriculture Ministry on Friday, the area under rice and pulses was nearly 1 and 2 per cent less than in the same week last year, respectively. While rice has been transplanted over an area of 382 lh, pulses acreage remained at 134 lh.

While the area under arhar is a little more than what was planted in the same week last year, moong has been planted only over 31 lh, nearly 3 lh lower than in the corresponding week in 2018-19, the data showed. The increase in coverage of maize, bajra and ragi has pushed up the area under coarse cereals close to 180 lh as against 177 lh in the same week last year. The area under maize was nearly 2.5 per cent more than in the same period last year, while ragi planting is about 15 per cent more compared to the same week in the previous year.

Among oilseeds, soyabean coverage was more than normally expected and it in fact covered up for the dip in groundnut planting, which is nearly 2 per cent lower thanin the the corresponding week in 2018-19.

Good monsoon showers have ensured that most reservoirs monitored by the Central Water Commission (CWC) have filled to capacity. According to the data released by the CWC on Thursday, 113 major reservoirs in the country have a cumulative water storage of 146.20 billion cubic metres, which is 15 per cent more than during the same week last year.

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