Pulses sowing almost 40% more than in 2015

Acreage rises thanks to good rain, firm prices; water levels in major reservoirs increase 60% in only 8 days

Encouraged by a strong upswing in the southwest monsoon, kharif sowing picked up pace across the country and for the first time exceeded last year’s area, driven largely by expansion in pulses, coarse cereals and oilseeds.

As on Friday, the area covered under kharif is estimated to be 55.97 million hectares, around two per cent more than the same period last year.

With sowing complete in a little more than half the normal area under kharif, the total might be more in 2016-17 if the trend is maintained.

The strong showers have also pushed up water levels in the 90-odd major reservoirs; the government says these have risen 60 per cent in eight days, to 29 per cent of their full capacity. On July 6, it was 18 per cent.

The largest rise in sowing has been the area under pulses, at 7.1 mn ha on Friday, almost 40 per cent more than what was covered at the same period last year. Officials said the growth was mainly in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Rajasthan, all of which have had bountiful showers since the start of this month.

MP has since June 1 got 77-95 per cent above normal rainfall, Maharashtra 30-60 per cent, Karnataka 20-35 per cent  and Rajasthan 48 per cent.  

This, central price intervention and assured purchasing through government agencies to create a buffer seems to have inspired farmers to shift from soybean and cotton towards pulses in some states. Most pulses’ prices have stayed over Rs 100 a kg for most of 2015 and 2016.

Paddy, the biggest foodgrain grown during kharif, has been sown on 12.39 mn ha till Friday, about 0.8 per cent more than what was covered during the same period last year. Coarse cereals have been sown on 10.58 mn ha, around 4.5 per cent more than this time last year. Oilseeds had been sown till Friday on sbout 13 mn ha, around 2.4 per cent more.  

Cotton has been planted on 7.54 mn ha, around 19.1 per cent less than the area covered during the same period last year. The major drop is in Gujarat, the largest producer, and also in Punjab, mainly due to low rainfall and a pest attack scare.

India’s southwest monsoon was around 11 per cent more than normal during the week ended Wednesday, pushing the overall rain so far in this season to a little over four per cent more than normal. However, there were still pockets of distress, particularly in the Saurashtra and Kutch region of Gujarat, where the showers till date are 44 per cent less than normal.

The monsoon was stated to have covered the entire country on Friday, almost two days ahead of its schedule. It is now expected to take a lull over central and western India, where it had been pounding for some weeks. The rain over central India — MP, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh — was almost 25 per cent more than normal between June 1 and July 14.