Widespread rains during August brought some relief for improved the sowing scenario in Gujarat, which faced severe water shortage during May and June. So far, the State has received 70 per cent of its long period average (LPA) rainfall, while the State government data showed 96 per cent area covered under kharif sowing.
The state agriculture data released on Tuesday showed total kharif sowing at 83,56,400 hectares, which is 96.37 per cent of the three-year average sowing. Of the major kharif crops, groundnut and cotton saw sluggish progress in sowing, while pulses, mainly urad (black gram), muth (Turkish gram), tur (pigeon peas) and moong (green gram) saw sharp growth over normal sowing at 168 per cent, 81 per cent, 44 per cent and 32 per cent respectively. Soybean too witnessed impressive growth of 67 per cent over the three-year average.
As per the state government data, groundnut area has increased by 17 per cent, while that of cotton has fallen by 15 per cent. Castor sowing too has taken a beating with 34 per cent lower sowing this year.
The state received widespread rains only in August against the normal onset in late June. This, joined by the pest attack hampered the prospects of cotton crop, hence farmers turned to alternate crops. So far in the current monsoon season, August has been the wettest month with average 283.52 mm of rainfall, followed by July at 224.30 mm and June with 37 mm. State's LPA normal rainfall is 797 mm, of which it has so far received 558 mm of total rainfall.