Gujarat winter sowing likely to decline by 30%

Prolonged hot weather, water shortage in Saurashtra, Kutch may bring down sowing figure

Shortage of water in Saurashtra and the prolonged hot weather could reduce sowing of winter crops in Gujarat by around 30 per cent this year, said Govind Patel, Gujarat agriculture minister.

Patel said: “Only Junagadh and Porbandar districts received sufficient rainfall during monsoon this year. Other parts of Saurashtra and Kutch region faced scarcity. This could bring down sowing in these regions in winter by 50 per cent. Overall sowing in Gujarat may possibly decrease 30 per cent.”

According to state agriculture department data, winter sowing in 2013-14 was done on 3.85 million hectares, higher by 29 per cent from 2012-13’s 2.98 million hectares. Wheat, jeera, maize, mustard and gram are major crops sown in winter in Gujarat. Wheat was sown on about 1.5 million hectares last winter, while jeera was cultivated on 4,55,000 hectares.

Sowing in the Saurashtra and Kutch region last year stood at 1.4 million hectares. Officials are hopeful to match average sowing mark this time, which is about 3.5 million hectares.

Raj Kumar, principal secretary, agriculture and co-operation department, Gujarat, said: “It is a known fact that monsoon was quite dull this time but overall water availability and supply is good in the state. There may not be any negative impact on sowing. As water from the Narmada is available in many places in the state, there won’t be much problem for irrigation.”

Sowing of winter crops generally begins in the first week of November, but it has been delayed this time by almost a month because of the hot weather.

Agriculture department officials expect sowing to pick up after November 15.