Early kharif sowing data indicate an increase in the area under almost all crops compared with the year-ago period, details of the weekly update shared by the agriculture ministry showed. Data showed the overall acreage is up by about 1.5 lakh hectares (lh). The acreage of maize, arhar (pigeon pea) and groundnut is marginally lower, but it is likely to recover soon with a rapid progress of monsoon after it revived on June 15.
According to data, the area coverage has reached 89.29 lh as of June 13, up from 87.81 lh a year ago. While sugarcane planting, which started much earlier but is considered under Kkharif sowing, has reached 55.07 lh against 54.88 lh, there may be a revision at end of the season as last year’s final estimate was lower to 53.58 lh.
Nutri-cereals flat
Kharif season’s main cereal paddy has been transplanted in 4.53 lh against 4 lh a year ago. Pulses acreage reached 3.07 lh from 2.60 lh and that of oilseeds to 2.05 lh from 1.5 lh. The coverage of nutri/coarse cereals was reported almost flat at 5.89 lh against 5.90 lh, but maize area was down by 68,000 hectares. Cotton acreage is a tad lower at 13.19 lh from 13.28 lh, groundnut at 0.58 lh against 0.71 lh and arhar at 0.30 lh from 0.41 lh.
Among the crops which have shown higher area coverage are soyabean 1.07 lh from 0.40lh, urad (black matpe) at 0.43 from 0.18 lh, moong (green gram) 1.56 lh from 1.38 lh, jowar 1.01 lh from 0.75 lh and bajra 0.86 lh from 0.03 lh.
Despite monsoon progress being stalled from May 29, there was nearly 15 lh covered in the week ended June 13, which indicates sowing is normal, an official source said. As there is already a revival and expectation of earlier than normal arrival of the monsoon over most of the States, the pace of sowing is likely to gain further momentum, the source said.
Conditions are favourable for the south-west monsoon to advance further over remaining parts of Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar, and some parts of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and east Uttar Pradesh during next two days, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said Tuesday.
IMD advisory
It has advised farmers in almost all the States to drain out excess water from paddy nursery and if not sown yet, should be postponed for a few days.
In Jharkhand and West Bengal, farmers should make necessary arrangements to drain out excess water from moong, vegetables and fruit orchards. For south Gujarat, farmers are advised to postpone sowing of soyabean and if already done, proper drainage should be ensured. Sugarcane and banana farmers in the Sstate are also asked to prevent lodging.
The IMD advisory has also asked farmers in north Odisha to postpone sowing of millets, maize, pulses and vegetables as heavy rain is expected. In Tamil Nadu, farmers should postpone sowing of sorghum and cumbu (pearl millet) and ensure proper drainage in cotton, sugarcane, groundnut fields. In south interior Karnataka, sowing of pigeon pea, maize and onion should be postponed for a few days, it said.