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Vigorous monsoon last week has provided a fillip to the last phase of kharif crops sowing such as rice and oilseeds. Widespread rain across large parts of North, East and Central India has helped reduce the overall rain deficit to 14 per cent and improve storage levels in major reservoirs.
Total live storage in the 84 important reservoirs, as monitored by the Central Water Commission, was at 57 per cent of the full capacity of 154.42 billion cubic metres (BCM).
Live reservoir storage was 87.58 BCM against corresponding last year’s level of 107.1 BCM.
Rice acreage expanded by 22 lakh hectares during the week as transplantation picked up pace in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand. The peninsular States of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala have so far seen lower rice acreage over corresponding last year.
Among coarse cereals, the shortfall in acreage is mainly in bajra, sorghum and ragi. The acreage under maize is marginally short of last year’s level at 71.26 lakh tonnes.
The deficit in pulses acreage has also been largely reduced. Acreage under tur or arhar stood at 34.78 lh for the week, against last year’s 35.96 lh. Planting of tur was higher in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, while it is almost at last year’s level in Karnataka.
Urad registered a higher acreage of 22.30 lh against last year’s 20.38 lh, largely due to more area in UP and MP. However, moong acreage trails by about 4 lh at 17.33 lakh ha, largely on account of poor sowing in Rajasthan, though the area is higher in Maharashtra.
The deficit in total oilseed acreage at 5 lh has largely been offset by higher soyabean planting though sowing of groundnut has been hit due to poor rains in Saurashtra, Gujarat. Groundnut acreage stood at 36 lh against last year’s 41.21 lh, while soyabean area was higher by about 4 lh at 106.77 lh. Soyabean acreage is higher in States such as Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Niger acreage increased to 1.28 lh against last year’s 1.03 lh. Other oilseeds such as sunflower, sesamum and castor have registered lower acreage.
Among cash crops, higher acreage in States such as Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Maharashtra has helped offset the shortfall in cotton acreage due to poor planting in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Karnataka. Gujarat has seen a 5 lh drop in cotton acreage, while in MP and Karnataka, the decline is by about one lh.
vishwanath.kulkarni@thehindu.co.in
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