With the south-west monsoon being seven per cent below normal till Friday, sowing of kharif crops continues to be affected. Data provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmerss Welfare show that sowing lost its momentum further in terms of percentage.

Data showed that a total of 612 lakh hectares (lh) had been covered till date compared with 692 lh during the same period a year ago - down 11.5 per cent year-on-year. While the acreage is 80 lh lower than last year, it is also down by nearly 25 lh than the normal sowing registered during 2016-20.

Barring sugarcane and jute, the coverage of all kharif crops is lower than last year, while it below normal in the case of rice, pulses and coarse cereals. In the case of coarse cereals, the drop in area is 25 per cent compared with the normal sowing and 24 per cent compared with last year.

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Double figure dip

The decline in area of crops such as rice, pulses, oilseeds and cotton is in double figures. In the case of rice, the acreage has been dragged by Odisha (4.26 lh), Chhattishgarh (3.99 lh), Bihar (2.83 lh), Assam (2.28 lh) and Haryana (1.14 lh) among others.

Oilseeds coverage is down nearly 14 per cent mainly in key States of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, which have reported substantial drop in the acreage. However, the area is up in Maharashtra and Gujarat.

The pulses crops coverage is also seeing a decline of 10 lh despite hopes of a higher acreage in view of high prices that prevailed last season (July 2020-June 2021). The acreage is lower by a total of 13 lh in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh with Maharashtra and Karnataka making up for some of the losses.

Surprising trend

Sowing of coarse cereals is also surprisingly lower since farmers opt for the hardy, less water consuming crops when monsoon plays truant. Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Haryana account for a major share of the decline in the area. The area under cotton is also surprising lower compared with last year by about 15 per cent, though it is higher than the normal. Telangana, Gujarat and Karnataka reported a rise in acreage but Andhra Pradesh and Punjab have dragged it.

The sugarcane area is almost one per cent higher than last year, thanks to improved coverage in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. Jute coverage is also up a tad.

Complicating the situation further for the growers is the seven percentage lower water storage in the major resevoirs of the country compared with last year. Currently, the storage is 57.628 billion cubic metres (BCM) against 62.134 BCM during the same period a year ago.

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