Deficient rains hit paddy, cotton sowing in Haryana

With kharif sowing getting complete amid a weak monsoon, the area under paddy, cotton and bajra in Haryana has shrunk considerably. However, paddy acreage has exceeded the targeted area in Punjab.

As against a target of 12 lakh hectares, there will be a shortfall of 1.38 lakh hectares of paddy acreage in Haryana this year.

The State Agriculture Department is expecting an adverse impact on basmati rice cultivation; the State has managed to bring 10.62 lakh hectares under basmati as against 12.35 lakh hectares last year.

“There will be a fall in the area under basmati paddy in the State (Haryana) due to poor rain,” Haryana Agriculture Department, Additional Director, B. S. Duggal, told PTI here.

Haryana accounts for 40 per cent of the country’s basmati production with almost 7.5-8 lakh hectares under basmati varieties.

The State has also seen a sharp fall in the area under cultivation of cotton and bajra crops due to less rain. Against the target of 6 lakh hectares, the acreage under cotton remained low at 5.25 lakh hectares, reporting a shortfall of 75,000 hectares.

Cultivation of bajra has also gone down sharply to 2.71 lakh hectares against the target of 6.10 lakh hectares.

Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, during his visit to Chandigarh last week, had found the situation in Haryana to be bad with the area under kharif crops sharply lower on account of a deficient monsooon.

However, the guar crop has been the exception with the area under it jumping to 3.41 lakh hectares against the target of 3 lakh hectares on the back of high prices.

Haryana has sought a Central package of Rs 4,050 crore from the Centre to tackle the drought-like situation.

However, in Punjab the sowing of crops, except cotton, has been satisfactory despite deficient rain.

Acreage under paddy crop has even exceeded the target of 27.80 lakh hectares by touching the mark of 28 lakh hectares, an official of the Punjab Agriculture Department said here. “The targeted area under paddy has been achieved.”

Punjab farmers have shown some interest in the guar crop in the wake of its high prices. Between 12,000-15,000 hectares have been brought under cultivation of this crop against an average of 1,000-2,000 hectares.

However, cotton has seen a dip in Punjab with the total area at 4.95 lakh hectares against a target of 5.20 lakh hectares. Punjab has seen 68 per cent deficient rain and sought a package of Rs 5,112 crore.

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