Almost 97 per cent of Kharif crop sowing has been completed and acreage this year is 1.6 per cent higher than at the same time last year.

Area under crops such as rice, sugarcane, cotton, soyabean and a range of pulses touched 1021.86 lakh hectares (lha) as of Friday, as per the latest estimates released by the Agriculture Ministry.

Pulses, in particular, have recorded a higher area by nearly 12 per cent although yields are unlikely to rise appreciably as per the Ministry’s first advance estimates released earlier this week. Moong and urad areas are higher by 10 per cent and 21 per cent, respectively.

However, cotton and groundnut are exceptions, having recorded lower coverage as compared to last year by 8.4 per cent and 3.6 per cent, respectively.

According to the Ministry's early estimate, production of foodgrains – which includes rice, pulses and coarse cereals – is expected to decline by 1.8 per cent to 124.05 million tonnes (mt) this year from 126.31 mt last year due to a poor monsoon.

The production estimates will be revised three more times over the year. Rainfall has been 15 per cent below normal at 705.8 mm between June 1 and September 18, according to the India Meteorology Department (IMD).

Although in its withdrawal phase, the monsoon is likely to bring much needed precipitation to parched areas in Maharashtra, Karnataka, the Konkan coast and Kerala through the week.

The southern peninsula has benefited from the rain which has seen the deficit in the region narrowing to 13 per cent as of Friday from almost 22 per cent at the end of August.

“The recovery has been led by torrential systems forming in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal and will likely converge over central India before drifting north,” said an Met agency official.

Out of 36 sub-stations, 17 have reported deficient rainfall through the four-month monsoon.

“There was initially a fear that a consecutive poor monsoon could also impact the Rabi season but with these showers over the last few days, soil moisture will improve and support better crop growth,” said a senior government official.

The late surge is also likely to improve water levels in reservoirs which as of this week was 92.63 billion cubic metres (bcm) or 59 per cent of total storage capacity, and 23 per cent lower than the average storage of the last 10 years.

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