Acerage. Paddy continues to gain area as kharif sowing enters last phase

Paddy continues to gain area as farmers bring more zone under the main cereal crop as sowing enters the last leg of the kharif season 2021.

Paddy has been planted in over 8 lakh hectares (lh) in the last week, thus pushing up the total area under the cereal crop to 409.55 lh as compared to 407.97 lh in the same period last year. The paddy acreage this year is 3.51 per cent higher than the normal area of 395.65 lh for the kharif season.

While sowing of almost all major kharif crops has come to an end, the transplanting of paddy goes on till September-end across many States including Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. States reporting higher paddy acreage this year include Madhya Pradesh (11.07 lh), Telangana (9.01 lh), Jharkhand (1.57 lh ), Tamil Nadu (1.02 lh ) among others. However, Odisha (2.08 lh), Andhra Pradesh (0.20 lh ), Kerala (0.09 lh ) among others, have reported lower acreage.

Despite a sluggish start, pulses acreages have been higher at 139.63 lh as compared to 136.98 lh in the period last year. Acreage under tur or arhar is a tad lower than 50 lh on higher planting mainly in Karnataka. Tur acreage, so far, stood at 49.84 lh (47.98 lh), while urad area is marginally higher at 38.89 lh (38.32 lh), while the area under moong is a tad lower at 35.10 lh (35.21 lh).

Deficit rains

Among coarse cereals, farmers have planted more area under maize this year, while the acreages under bajra and jowar have been lower. Maize area stood at 81.13 lh as compared to 79.65 lh in the same period last year.

Bajra acreages were lower at 63.34 lh(68.66 lh ) as the sowing was impacted by deficit rains in the key producing State of Rajasthan. Similarly, the acreage under jowar is tad lower at 14.49 lh (14.98 lh).

Rainfall across the country this monsoon has been erratic. Total deficit across the country stands at 7 per cent as of September 8, while the shortfall stood at 9 per cent as of September 1. The country as a whole received 707.2 mm rainfall as of September 8, while the normal rainfall for the season is 764.5 mm. About 70 per cent of the country’s area have received normal to large excess rains, while the remaining 30 per cent had deficient rainfall.

The deficient rains had also impacted the sowing of oilseeds such as groundnut and soyabean mainly in States such as Gujarat, Rajasthan and parts of Madhya Pradesh during the early part of the season.

Groundnut acreage has been lower at 48.98 lh(50.91 lh), while soyabean area according to the Ministry is 121.67 lh(121.16 lh). The Soyabean Processors Association of India in its recent survey on the health of oilseed crop had reported total damage in about 8 lh under soyabean.

Also, the crop health was reported poor in about 13 per cent of the planted area. Acreages under sesamum and castor were reported lower at 13.15 lh and 6.16 lh respectively.

The area under cotton has moved up to 119.46 lh as compared to 126.80 lh. Acreages under other kharif crops like sugarcane has been higher at 54.70 lh (53.96 lh), while that of under jute and mesta is marginally up at 7.01 lh (6.94 lh).

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