Kharif sowing continues at a brisk pace as rains revive

The sowing of kharif crops continued to be good during the week ending on July 10, except for pulses, whose pace slowed down as rains abated in central and southern parts of the country.

With the rains excepted to revive over several parts of central India in the next few days, pulses sowing is expected to gather steam. So far in July, India has received 56.3 millimetres of rainfall against a normal of 88.2 millimetres.

Data from the agriculture department showed, till Friday, kharif crops were sown in 44.51 million hectares of land, which is almost 62 per cent more, than the area covered during the corresponding period in 2014.

In all, kharif crops are sown in 105.28 million hectares, which means the crops have so far, been sown in 43 per cent of the total normal area.

Pulses acreage rose to 3.26 million hectares during the week, which was one million hectares more, than past year. Till last week, pulses had been sown in 2.26 million hectares, which was 1.28 million hectares more than the corresponding period in past year.

The slowdown in area under cultivation could be due to a slight let-up in rains in central and western parts of the country.