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Paddy sowing in the past one week has improved with addition of about 34 lakh hectare (lh) narrowing the deficit in its acreage following improvement in rainfall in Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal, where transplanting got delayed even as nursery was ready in many districts. If the trend continues for another week, the deficit may be further narrowed down, easing concerns over any significant drop in paddy output.
Overall acreage of paddy is down by 8 per cent at 343.70 lakh hectare (lh) as of August 18 from 374.63 lh year-ago, whereas the sowing area was 12 per cent lower at 309.79 lh until August 12, data released by the Agriculture Ministry show. The government has earlier set this season’s paddy area target at 413.13 lh.
“With 83 per cent coverage so far from the target, it is unlikely to be met in the remaining days even if some areas in West Bengal and others got added as transplanting in many states are now complete. The next one month is crucial as there have been reports of flood coming from some states. Unless water recedes in a few days, it can damage the crop,” said an agriculture scientist. Some climate resilient rice varieties released for eastern India may be helpful for farmers this year as those can withstand both drought and flood for upto 15 days, he added.
West Bengal and Odisha together have 77 lh target this kharif, and there is deficit of about 10 lh in each state. It is expected some improvement in these two states as short duration varieties can still be taken up, officials said. Jharkhand may not see an improvement since rainfall deficit is very high – 26 per cent as of August 21 and situation same in almost all districts, the officials said. Jharkhand, however, received 267 per cent above average rains on August 21 and similar precipitation a day before due to low pressure.
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Overall acreage of all kharif crops – paddy, pulses, oilseeds, coarse cereals, cotton, sugarcane and jute – has reached 1,012.99 lh as of August 18, a drop of 2.5 per cent from 1,038.51 lh year-ago, the ministry said. As the crop area has crossed 93 per cent of last five years’ average, officials are hopeful of the acreage reaching at least 97-98 per cent by end of the season.
Kharif crops’ sowing progress as of August 18 (in lakh hectare), according to the Agriculture Ministry:
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