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Planting of key kharif crops such as pulses, oilseeds, coarse cereals and cotton is complete in over two-thirds of the normal area on the back of continued surplus rains in July in major parts of the country.
Oilseeds, with over 93 per cent of the normal area, was the most covered kharif crop, followed by cotton at 89 per cent, coarse cereals at 70 per cent and pulses at 66 per cent. Rice was planted in half of the normal area and the transplantation will go on till early September.
Among oilseeds, soyabean was planted in 117.33 lakh hectares (ha), about 16 per cent more than in the corresponding period last year.
Groundnut was planted in about 10 per cent more area, while the total oilseeds acreage was up 29 per cent over last year. A higher area was reported in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.
Cotton acreage was about eight per cent higher than last year at 105.06 lakh ha over last year with higher coverage in States such as Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.
However, in Maharashtra, the total acreage so far is marginally lower at 37.37 lakh ha over last year’s 38.77 lakh ha.
About half of the 36 meteorological sub-divisions have reported excess rainfall since the onset of monsoon, one has reported normal rains, while the remaining eight, deficient.
The impact of the excess rains in States such as Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, which are witnessing floods in some parts, was not known.
So far, the crop condition has been reported normal and satisfactory.
The surplus rain has helped improve the live storage levels in about 85 key reservoirs monitored by the Central Water Commission.
The live storage in these 85 reservoirs stood at 52 per cent of their capacity.
Rice acreage stood at 196.38 lakh ha, about 6.5 per cent more than corresponding last year.
States such as Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Gujarat have reported higher acreages.
In case of pulses, tur or arhar has been planted in total of 29.65 lakh ha against last year’s 17.8 lakh ha, with Maharashtra, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh reporting higher areas.
Urad has been planted in 16.98 lakh ha over last year’s 10.31 lakh ha and moong bean in 17.52 lakh ha over last year’s 7.72 lakh ha.
Among coarse cereals, maize has been planted in 71.10 lakh ha against last year’s 57.15 lakh ha.
Bajra has been sown in 53.38 lakh ha (37.10 lakh ha in last year), and jowar in 17.53 lakh ha (17.24 lakh ha).
vishwanath.kulkarni@thehindu.co.in
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