Truant weather dampens rabi sowing

Moderate and heavy rainfall together with hailstorm experienced in some regions of North India this week left wheat and other crops partly damaged even as the rabi planting data released by the Agriculture Ministry indicated a shortfall of four per cent in area as compared to the corresponding week last year.

As against 643.6 lakh hectares (lh) planted in the same week previous year, the area covered during the current rabi season stood at 617.8 lh, the Agriculture Ministry data showed on Friday.

Rain affects wheat

Thanks to a late-surge in sowing in Madhya Pradesh, wheat closed the gap to less than 1 per cent as compared to the previous rabi season with the total area planted inching more than 298 lh.

However, the quality of the crop may have taken a hit with many parts of the key growing States of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh witnessing moderate to heavy rainfall early this week, which is detrimental to the standing crop.

According to official release from Punjab government, the State experienced widespread moderate to heavy rainfall along with storm and some districts such as Fatehgarh Sahib, Hoshiyarpur, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Patiala, Ropar and Ferozpur reported light hailstorm that damaged some area of wheat, sarson, vegetables and rabi fodder in these districts.

Drought situation

Similarly, Bihar government issued a notification this week that 23 districts in the State — as many as 275 blocks — were affected by drought which will reduce the crop area in the State.

Nearly 10 per cent drop in gram cultivation, reported mainly from Maharashtra, which is hit by a major drought, has affected the overall pulses cultivation, which came to 156.3 lh, nearly six per cent lower than 166 lh in the corresponding week last year.

Winter rice, on the other hand, was down by 14 per cent mainly because of the subdued planting in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.

Rice, cereals lose

The area covered under winter rice till this week was less than 34 lh as compared to 39.64 lh in the same week last year.

Similarly, the cultivation of coarse cereals, too, is equally hit with two major nutri-cereals growing States — Maharashtra and Karnataka — reeling under drought. Acreage under coarse cereals stands at 48.69 lh (57 lh).

Apart from wheat, oilseeds is the only crop which managed to retain last year’s level. A surge in mustard/rapeseed cultivation in Rajasthan has been critical in taking the total oilseeds sowing area to about 80 lh, which was slightly lower than that in 2017-18.

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