Paddy headed for record acreage

A 6 per cent increase in monsoon rainfall has pushed up kharif sowing by 8.6 per cent compared to the same week last year, with paddy heading for a record acreage with planting is still on.

Kharif sowing data for the week released by Agriculture Ministry on Friday showed that planting was completed on 1,063 lakh hectares (lha) compared to 979 lha in the corresponding week of the last kharif season.

More area

There has been a substantial increase in planting of paddy in many States that received bountiful rains so far. These include Telangana, which has sown paddy over an additional 10.5 lha, and Bihar, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh which have added nearly 6 lha each. Among the other States that have planted paddy in more area are West Bengal (4.48 lha), Odisha (3.16 lha) and Karnataka (2.18 lha) compared to same period last year. Surprisingly, the paddy area in Punjab has come down by 1.78 lha from the last kharif season.

The total area under paddy so far is 378 lha, nearly 12 per cent more than the 339 lha covered in the same week last year.

Pulses up, too

With Karnataka (3.52 lha), Maharashtra (2.16 lha), Telanagana (1.42 lha) and Uttar Pradesh (1.07 lha) planting more, the area under pulses went up 6.8 per cent to 1,32.5 lha. All three major pulses – arhar, urad and moong – are reporting higher acreage as compared to same week last year.

Oilseeds planting, which has almost ended, registered a 14 per cent increase over last year, with the total area going up to 191 lha, raising the prospects of higher production this year. Major kharif oilseeds crops — soyabean and groundnut — have reported higher acreage as compared to last year, Another crop that has done well in terms of coverage is cotton, at 127.7 lh, which is 3.4 per cent more than the same period last year. Much of the increase came from Telangana, which planted cotton over an additional 6.11 ha, Karnataka (1.68 lha) and Punjab (1 lha). Correspondingly, cotton planting is lower by 3.55 lha in Gujarat and by 1.79 lha in Maharashtra, two traditionally-strong cotton States.

Till this week, the country as a whole received a rainfall of 663 millimetres against the normal of 628 mm. Similarly, 123 reservoirs monitored by the Central Water Commission have 90 per cent of live storage.