Spurt in rain helps sowing of pulses and paddy

Monsoon rains during the week ended August 29, being the best in the 2012 southwest monsoon season, pushed up sowing of paddy, pulses and coarse cereals, but failed to have a similar impact on oilseeds.

Officials said if the rainfall intensity remains at the current levels in the coming weeks, more area will come under coarse cereals, pulses and short-duration paddy, but not much change is expected in oilseeds.

“The last burst in oilseeds (sowing) came only because of a sudden change in the rainfall scenario in August, or else we would have been looking at a much-bleaker overall kharif crop situation,” a senior government official said.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the southwest monsoon during the week that ended on August 29 was around six per cent above normal, by far its best performance in the current season.

The heavy showers not only lowered the overall rainfall deficiency across the country to just 12 per cent of long-period average (LPA), but also caused normal showers in hitherto deficient areas of West Rajasthan. The rainfall situation also improved in parts of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab and Haryana which have been seeing an acute shortage of rain. The situation in parts of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka, though better than July, still continued to be grim. “The late surge in rains might not fully compensate for the delayed onset and week performance of southwest monsoon in the first two months. At best, it could prevent the crop from withering away and fill the empty reservoirs,” another official said. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) last week said India’s rice production during the current kharif season is expected to fall by six per cent against last year at 98.5 million tonnes.

Water levels in 84 major reservoirs across the country, too, improved because of the rains. According to the Central Water Commission (CWC), water level in the reservoirs was at 61 per cent of full reservoir level, much more than the 16 per cent seen in June end.

Till last Friday, kharif crops have been sown in around 95.43 million hectares, 660,000 hectares less than the normal sowing area (the average of last five years) during the same time of corresponding year.

In paddy, the acreage was 4.5 per cent more than the normal area, while for coarse cereals it was 14.6 per cent less than normal. In pulses, it was just 1.4 per cent less than normal. In cotton, though, the total acreage was around 5.53 per cent more than normal as good rains boosted planting.