Kharif sowing picks up in Odisha with rains 69% above normal so far in July

Total sown area as on July 7 at 1.07 million hectares as compared to 1.04 million hectares at this time last year

Buoyed by normal rainfall Kharif sowing has picked up momentum in Odisha with the overall sowing area surpassing the previous year's figure.

The total sown area as on July 7 stood at 1.07 million hectares as compared to 1.04 million hectares at this time last year, government data showed.

In the month of July so far, Odisha received 111.6 millimeter (mm) rainfall against the normal rainfall of 65.8 mm, a deviation of 69 per cent.

Cereals have been sown on 0.97 million hectares against 0.94 million hectares sown last year. Pulses are sown over 0.096 million hectares as on July 7 while it was 0.102 million hectares during the same period of last year.

Government sources said, “The broadcasting of Kharif paddy is under progress. Raising of paddy nursery is going on while sowing of non-paddy crop like pulses, oilseeds, cotton,maize, ragi, vegetables and spices are also under progress. Sugarcane is in vegetative stage. Rainfall of this week is excess and overall crop condition is normal."

Anticipating normal monsoon, the Odisha government has set a target to produce 10 million tonnes of food grains in the Kharif season of 2019. As per the plan, the Kharif production target will be covering 5.08 million hectares of land with a yield rate of 1977 kilogram per hectare. The food production includes 9.479million tonnes of cereals and 0.56 million tonnes of pulses.

The Odisha government has launched a special package for farmer's welfare- KALIA (Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation) to further accelerate the agricultural prosperity in the state.

Carrying ahead its tradition since 2013-14, the Odisha government presented an exclusive budget for agriculture with an outlay of Rs 20,714 crore for FY20. Besides the budgeted outlay, about Rs 8000 crore is being invested through extra budgetary resources every year to ensure timely payments to farmers for paddy procurement.

The agriculture budget has earmarked Rs 5611 crore for the state government's much lauded Kalia scheme for 2019-20. In this financial year, the state has fixed a target to create additional irrigation potential of 265,000 hectares. To boost farm credit, the budget has set aside Rs 800 crore for interest subvention on crop loans for this fiscal.