Erratic monsoon rains hit kharif sowing, pulls down area coverage by 12%

Erratic monsoon rains have slowed kharif sowing of food grains, pulling down crop area coverage by 12 per cent (as on August 10, 2019) compared to same period of the previous year.
 
The total food grains sown area as on August 10 stood at 3.17 million hectares as compared to 3.63 million hectares at this time last year.
 
Odisha received deficient rainfall in June, normal rains in July and excess rainfall in August.
 

Cereals have been sown on 2.8 million hectares against 3.2 million hectares sown last year. Pulses are sown over 0.377 million hectares as on August 10 while it was 0.443 million hectares during the same period of last year. The sowing of all crops has slowed down 4.01 million hectares against 4.53 million hectares covered last year.

 
"On the whole there is a shortfall of about 0.5 million hectares in crop coverage. Transplanting and beaushaning of paddy under progress. However, due to erratic rainfall beaushaning has been delayed and even held up at places. Wrapping and propping of sugarcane is going on. Sowing of non-paddy crop like pulses, vegetables and spices is under progress. There is no major incidence of pest and diseases. Rainfall of this week is excess. Overall crop condition is normal,” government sources said.
 
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 9.479 million tonnes of cereals and 0.56 million tonnes of pulses.

 
The state 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 8,000 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 5,611 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.