Area sown under coarse cereals, pulses shrinks

Areas under coarse cereals, which are alternative crops for farmers but important for the fodder and livestock industry, continued to lag till July 29 behind the same period last year, despite a revival in monsoon rains in most parts of the country. The same is the case with pulses, an important constituent of an Indian meal.

Pulses have been sown in around 7.39 million hectares of land till Friday, down almost 10 per cent from the same period last year. Though the overall area in pulses was down, there has been a big improvement on a week-on-week basis.

“Pulses sowing can continue even in August and we are hopeful of making up for the deficiency in the coming days,” a senior government official said.

Sowing of coarse cereals, which include maize, jowar (sorghum), bajra (pearl millet), ragi and small millets, was down as compared to the period last year. The area under other main kharif crops including paddy, oilseeds, sugarcane and cotton was more than last year as on Friday, as the southwest monsoon showed signs of revival.

Officials said below-normal monsoon in early days of July in Gujarat, Maharashtra, along with parts of Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka had pulled down the acreage under coarse cereals. In Maharashtra, the area covered under maize was almost 19 per cent down from last year at 506,000 hectares till Friday. Similarly in Gujarat, the area was 265,000 hectares, around 23 per cent down from the same period last year.

In Maharashtra, the acreage under jowar was 28 per cent down at 714,000 hectares, while in Karnataka, it was nine per cent down at 168,000 hectares.

Poor rains initially have also pulled down bajra acreage in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan, the three main producing states.

In Rajasthan, the area under bajra was 7.2 per cent lower this year at 3.91 million hectares, while in Maharashtra and Gujarat, it was 37 per cent and 30 per cent down at 596,000 and 271,000 hectares, respectively.

The acreage of ragi and small millets, largely grown during the rabi sowing season, was also down. “Coarse cereals sowing are lagging as overall rains in Maharashtra, Gujarat and parts of Rajasthan have been less till now,” a senior government official said.

Till last week, in Marathwada, Vidarbha and central regions of Maharashtra, overall rainfall has been almost nine per cent, 14 per cent and three per cent below normal since June, data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) showed.

In Gujarat, the southwest monsoon has almost been 40 per cent below normal till last week, while in west Rajasthan it was almost 21 per cent below normal.

Overall, across the country, total rainfall this year continued to be below normal. Since June 1, the country has received 399.1 millimetres of rainfall, which was four per cent below normal.

The situation is worst in eastern and northeastern states, where rainfall has been 15 per cent below normal till now.

During the week ended July 30, southwest monsoon has been 23 per cent below normal across the country.

Going forward, IMD said monsoon would remain active over north India and also parts of central and eastern India.