Weak monsoon may cast a cloud on kharif crops in four more states

Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana may be hit if situation doesn?t improve next week

The government on Saturday said kharif crops in parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana might be hit if the monsoon did not improve next week.

In that case, these states would have to take urgent contingency measures, which focus on short-duration crops, judicious use of fertilisers and ground water, etc, on the lines of Karnataka and Maharashtra, a key official said.

Though no state has been declared drought-hit yet, some may be in the next few days. “Sowing of the main kharif crops is picking up, but there are pockets where rainfall is deficient,” Agriculture Secretary Ashish Bahuguna said on Saturday.

There were concerns, particularly in Karnataka, parts of Maharashtra, Saurashtra and Kutch in Gujarat, and western Rajasthan, as large tracts of land in these parts had not yet been sown, Bahuguna said after chairing a meeting of senior officials from states facing deficient rainfall.

Even as crop sowing has not been affected so far in Punjab and Haryana — which together account for half the foodgrain the country produces — these states, too, have received poor rainfall.

Bahuguna said there was a huge demand for additional power from these states, as most of the area under cultivation was irrigated. “The two states have demanded additional power of 1,000 Mw each, of which the Centre has already provided 300 Mw.”

The overall southwest monsoon across the country has been around 22 per cent below normal so far. Bahuguna said around one million hectares in Karnataka would be lost due to deficient rains. Kharif crops are usually sown on around 7.5 million hectares. Of this, sowing was done on around 6.5 million hectares this week. “Through contingency plans, we hope to salvage 0.8 million hectares of the one million hectares expected to be lost. We will start sowing early rabi crops,” Bahuguna said.

In Maharashtra, he said, 865,000 hectares were vulnerable, mainly in Pune, Sangli, Satara, Sholapur, Ahmednagar and Kolhapur belt, due to poor rains. He said there was a chance of salvaging 500,000 hectares by planting jowar, maize and gram instead of cotton.

Bahuguna said there was fear of losing around 150,000 hectares in Rajasthan, where largely bajra was grown.

In Gujarat, sowing has taken place on around 32 per cent of the total area where sowing has to be done during the kharif season. The rainfall has been deficient in Saurashtra and Kutch. This could hit sowing of cotton and groundnut. Total kharif acreage in the state is around 8.7 million hectares, of which sowing has been done on around 2.7 million hectares till date.

On exports, Bahuguna said the crop situation did not warrant any immediate curb on export of wheat and rice. “Paddy sowing is good and we have enough stocks of both wheat and rice,” he said.