Kharif area. Kharif area almost tops 1,000 lakh hectares

The area under kharif crops almost topped 1,000 lakh hectares (lh), a tad lower than the area covered in the same period a year ago, according to data released by Agriculture Ministry on Friday.

Data showed that 997 lh have been covered till now, which is lower by a little less than 2 per cent compared with last year when 1,015 lh had been covered at the same point of time.This is farm more significant in the light of the fact that the kharif acreage was lower by over 12 per cent at the start of July compared with last year.

Also read: ‘Brisk demand’ from mills to lift cotton consumption in 2020-21: CAI

This year, kharif sowing was affected by a “break” in monsoon from June 23 till mid-July. Since then, monsoon has got reactivated but its progress has been slack over the last week or so. Yet, kharf sowing has made progress with the acreage trailing by two per cent last week and eight per cent the week before.

Rice area almost same

While the rice sown area was over 349 lh, similar to 351.5 lh in the same period a year ago, the area under pulses is almost two per cent more than the same period a year ago, thanks to a pick-up in the area under arhar that has gone up by 3.77 per cent to 47 lh. Oilseeds area, on the other hand, is down by nearly three per cent to over 180 lh with both soyabean and groundnut coverage being lower compared with same period a year ago.

Pulses have gained in view of the higher retail prices, with farmers in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra going for it.

Also read: Foodgrain output scales a new peak in 2020-21 season

The area under cotton was expected to increase in view of the good prices farmer fetched last year. But the hopes have been dashed as cottonseed prices ruled higher and the monsoon “break” affecting sowing in Gujarat. Similarly, oilseeds sowing has also been hit by high seed prices and the erratic monsoon.

The area under cotton is 7.5 per cent lower than the corresponding period a year ago. Till now, cotton has been planted on only 116 lh against 125 lh in the same period year ago.

Maize acreage up

Even though maize area is up by 2.26 per cent to nearly 79 lh, a decline in the planting of other major kharif coarse cereals such as jower and bajra pulled down the total area to 163 lh, which is 4 lh lower than 167 lh planted last year.

Maize area gained mainly on its prices rising of late due to demand for feed in and outside the country. Also, at one point of time last month its prices were higher than wheat.

Meanwhile, water storage in 130 reservoirs this week, monitored by the Central Water Commission, was 103.52 billion cubic metres (BCM) compared with 92.18 BCM in the corresponding week a year ago.

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