The overall acreage under all kharif crops is up by 10 per cent at 137.84 lakh hectares (lh) as of June 20, from 124.88 lh a year ago, the Agriculture Ministry said on Monday. The acreage of arhar (pigeon pea), groundnut and soyabean is marginally lower, while all other crops have reported higher area.
As monsoon revived on June 15 and has so far covered almost the entire country barring Punjab, Haryana, north Rajasthan and some parts of west Uttar Pradesh, nearly 50 lh were covered last week against less than 15 lh the previous week. Sowing is earlier than normal in most parts, officials said, adding the pace is likely to gain further momentum.
Pulsea area up 42%
According to data, the area coverage under Kharif season’s main cereal, paddy, reported 58 per cent jump at 13.22 lh from 8.37 lh a year ago. The acreage under pulses has increased by over 42 per cent to 9.44 lh from 6.63 lh. But the oilseeds area is down by 2 per cent at 5.38 lh from 5.49 lh. The coverage of nutri/coarse cereals, which was almost flat until the previous week, has improved and reached at 18.03 lh from 14.77 lh. The maize area was trailing until June 13, has jumped 19 per cent to 12.32 lh from 10.31 lh.
The area under jowar (sorghum) has jumped 68 per cent to 1.51 lh from 0.90 lh while that of bajra (millet) 37 per cent to 3.70 lh from 2.71 lh. Agriculture scientists said the early start of sowing of millet crops will help farmers harvest better yield as even if there is higher rainfall during maturity period, the crop can withstand it. However, only worry will be of pest if there is prolonged spell of rainfall and no dry period in between, scientists said.
There is no update in sugarcane planting, which started much earlier but is considered under kharif sowing, from last week and it remained at 55.07 lh against 54.88 lh a year ago. There may be a revision at end of the season as last year’s final estimate was lowered to 53.58 lh.
Oilseeds a worry
The cotton acreage has improved to 31.25 lh from 29.12 lh, up by 7 per cent. But, the jute and mesta coverage has gone down by 3 per cent to 5.46 lh from 5.62 lh, data show.
Initial data on oilseed area may not be good for the government which is aiming to have higher coverage after launch of the Oilseeds Mission in 2024. Soyabean, which was up until June 13, has reportedly been covered on 3.07 lh against 3.12 lh a year ago, groundnut at 1.78 lh against 1.91 lh and sunflower at 0.27 lh against 0.26 lh.
In the pulses category, urad (black matpe) acreage reached at 1.39 from 0.62 lh, moong (green gram) at 4.43 lh from 2.67 lh, and arhar down at 2.48 lh against 2.61 lh year-ago.