Despite the early onset of monsoon as forecast by the India Meteorological Department, kharif planting is yet to pick up momentum.

Slow down

The total area covered continues to lag as compared with the corresponding period last year, according to kharif crop sowing data released by the Union Agriculture Ministry on Friday.

The area under cotton cultivation was particularly down in Haryana and Punjab, while planting of sugarcane on the other hand was marginally up.

The total area planted so far was 72.61 lakh hectares (lh), which is nearly 5 lh lower than the same period last year.

 

 

 

Sugarcane has been planted over 49.32 lh with major producers such as Uttar Pradesh planting 22.17 lh and Maharashtra 9.41 lh.

Losing ground

The cotton area was restricted to less than 10 lh the corresponding period last year being 12.18 lh, the official data showed.

In the case of paddy too, there was a major shortfall with the total acreage remaining 2.95 lh as against 5.2 lh previously.

The planting of pulses, coarse cereals and oilseeds too was on a lower side as compared to last year so far.

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