Kharif sowing nears to end; paddy acreage down by 5.51%: Agri Ministry

As sowing of kharif (summer) crops almost comes to an end, paddy planting continued to lag behind as sown area under this crop fell 5.51 per cent from last year to 401.56 lakh hectare so far, according to the agriculture ministry.

Besides paddy, there is marginal lag in sowing of pulses, oilseeds and jute/mesta. Consequently, the total sown area under kharif crops declined 1.24 per cent to 1,097.57 lakh hectares so far this kharif season, as against 1,111.36 lakh hectares in the year-ago period, it said.

Sowing of kharif crops had begun with the onset of southwest monsoon from June. Harvesting of some kharif crops has started and will be in full swing from October.

Releasing the latest sowing update, the agriculture ministry said area planted to paddy remained lower by 5.51 per cent at 401.56 lakh hectares (ha) so far this kharif season of the 2022-23 crop year (July-June), as against 425 lakh hectares in the year-ago period.

Less coverage in paddy area was reported from Jharkhand (9.32 lakh ha), Madhya Pradesh (6.32 lakh ha), West Bengal (3.65 lakh ha), Uttar Pradesh (2.48 lakh ha) and Bihar (1.97 lakh ha), it said.

Paddy coverage remained less even in these states: Assam (0.95 lakh ha), Andhra Pradesh (0.75 lakh ha), Chhattisgarh (0.63 lakh ha), Tripura (0.27 lakh ha), Meghalaya (0.21 lakh ha), Odisha (0.21 lakh ha), Nagaland (0.21 lakh ha), Punjab (0.12 lakh ha), Goa (0.03 lakh ha), Mizoram (0.03 lakh ha), Sikkim (0.02 lakh ha) and Kerala (0.02 lakh ha).

Paddy coverage has been affected due to deficit rainfall. The ministry in its first advance estimate has projected 6 per cent fall in kharif rice production at 104.99 million tonnes.

Pulses sowing too was down marginally, the ministry said, as total coverage stood at 132.83 lakh hectares so far this kharif season when compared with 138.29 lakh hectares in the year-ago period.

There was slight lag in area sown to arhar, urad, moong, kulthi and other pulses in the said period.

Area sown to oilseeds was down at 191.75 lakh hectares so far this kharif season, as against 193.28 lakh hectares in the year-ago period, mainly due to lag in sowing of groundnut and some bit of soyabean.

However, area sown to coarse cereals remained higher at 181.43 lakh hectares so far this kharif season as against 174.05 lakh hectares in the year-ago period.

Among cash crops, cotton acreage was up at 127.39 lakh hectares as against 118.56 lakh hectares, while that of jute/mesta was down marginally at 6.95 lakh hectares in the said period.

Sugarcane area was slightly up at 55.66 lakh hectares so far this kharif season as against 55.22 lakh hectares in the year-ago period, the data showed.