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| Rains give new lease of life to crops in Saurashtra region |
| Vimukt Dave, / Mumbai/ Rajkot Jul 07, 2011, 00:59 IST |
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As monsoons made their presence felt in Saurashtra this week, the farmers of the region were one happy lot as this rain has saved their crops. Though bit delayed, the recent rainfall in the region has given a new lease of life to the groundnut and cotton crop.
During the last two days, Rajkot, Porbandar and Amreli districts of Saurashtra region witnessed rainfall and the meteorology department has predicted heavy rainfall in the coming two days across the region as well.
"Rainfall is crucial for both the groundnut and cotton crop. If the rains had delayed further, it would have hit these two crops severely," said NC Patel, vice chancellor of Junagadh Agriculture University. According to Patel, the sowing process will take some more time as these rains are not enough for new sowing. Patel added, "The rains that were witnessed in the last two days have saved the early sowing of crops. But we need substantial rainfall for further sowing."
As per the data provided by the district agriculture department, the sowing area is still below expectation. The total area of groundnut covered is 4,64,860 hectares this year in Saurashtra and Kutch, which is only 30 percent of the last year's total of 15,75819 hectares. Similarly in cotton so far 3,20089 hectares sowing has been done which was 17,60,238 hectares last year and just 18 percent area has been covered in cotton in Saurashtra region.
"More rainfall will definitely prove conducive for the sowing process. As the weather changes and the possibility of rain increases, sowing activity will increase in many parts of Saurashtra." said Govindbhai Patel, former president of Solvent extractors association of India (SEA).
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