With only about 15 per cent area remaining to be covered to reach normal coverage of the Kharif season, the momentum in paddy transplanting continues. The acreage under paddy is higher by over 3 per cent at 283 lakh hectares (lh) as of Friday against 273.73 lh a year ago. Also, sugarcane, maize and soyabean coverage this year has exceeded the normal area, according to latest sowing update by Agriculture Ministry.

The overall acreage under all kharif crops has been reported higher at 915.46 lh against 911.68 lh in the same period a year ago, despite the area under some pulses being lower.

Gains & losses

Higher area under paddy has been reported from Chhattisgarh (6.37 lh ), Telangana (4.36 lh), Uttar Pradesh (2.74 lh), Jharkhand (1.56 lh), Madhya Pradesh (1.51 lh), Maharashtra (0.48 lh), Gujarat (0.42 lh), Rajasthan (0.27 lh), Haryana (0.18 lh), Himachal Pradesh (0.14 lh), Punjab (0.07 lh), Nagaland (0.05 lh), Meghalaya (0.04 lh), J&K (0.01 lh), Arunachal Pradesh (0.01 lh) and Mizoram (0.01 lh)

However, as per current reports, coverage is lower in Odisha (4.06 lh), Assam (1.55 lh), Andhra Pradesh (1.18 lh), Karnataka (1.01 lh), West Bengal (0.40 lh), Tamil Nadu (0.21 lh), Tripura (0.13 lh), Uttarakhand (0.09 lh), Bihar (0.09 lh), Manipur (0.04 lh), Kerala (0.03 lh) and Sikkim (0.01 lh).

The total acreage under all pulses has slightly improved with the gap narrowing from last week. The decline has been reduced to 9.3 per cent this week against 11.3 per cent last week. The total pulses area is down to 106.88 lh from 117.87 lh a year ago. The area under the arhar (tur/pigeon pea) was down last week by 16 per cent drop. It is now 8 per cent lower at 37.38 lh against 40.58 lh a year ago. Moong has recorded 8.2 per cent fall at 28.89 lh, while urad has dipped by 13.8 per cent to 28.01 lh.

Bajra gives up gains

Acreage of coarse cereals has increased by 1.1 per cent to 164.20 lh from 162.43 lh. The maize area, too, is up at 76.14 lh against 75.44 lh a year ago. The normal area of maize is 75.71 lh. The gain in bajra acreage initially (by over 40 per cent) has narrowed down to 0.9 per cent at 66.59 lh, while jowar acreage has been reported a tad lower at 12.83 lh against 13.71 lh.

Oilseeds sowing is higher by 2.6 per cent at 179.56 lh from 175.10 lh a year ago. Among oilseeds, soyabean acreage has increased by 4 per cent to 122.39 lh from 117.63 lh and groundnut coverage is a tad lower at 41.14 lh from 41.26 lh. Due to delayed rainfall in Karnataka, the sowing of sunflower seems to have been affected and only 59,000 hectares have been covered pan-India, down from 1.76 lha year ago.

The cotton acreage was 119.21 lh until Friday against 120.94 lh a year ago, while sugarcane sowing has increased to 56.06 lh from 54.67 lh last year. Jute and mesta acreage has dropped by 5.7 per cent to 6.55 lh from 6.94 lh.

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