Castor area in Gujarat may decline this year

With sowing for kharif crops nearing an end, castor acreage in Gujarat may see a decline in 2009-10. Area under castorseed cultivation in the state has stood at 2.02 lakh hectares as on date, which is almost half of the total castor acreage in 2008-09.

As per the data available with the state agriculture department, total area covered under castor is 2.02 lakh hectares at present. It may be mentioned here that Gujarat had seen sowing of castor in more than 4 lakh hectares in 2008-09, while the normal castor acreage in the state is 3.73 lakh hectares.

Farmers in the state are worried due to the weakening monsoon in past couple of days. “If we fail to receive rain in days to come, it will affect not only castor but all the kharif crops”, said Pravin Thakkar, president, Ahmedabad Commodity Exchange (ACE).

Apart from scanty rains, shortage of seeds for castor in the state may also affect the sowing activity. The sowing period for castor will come to an end in the next two weeks.

Meanwhile, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) today also cut its seasonal monsoon forecast due to the weakening rainfall activity over the past few days. Rains in the June-September season would be 87 per cent of the long-period average (LPA) compared with 93 per cent forecast made on June 24.

As on date, around 70.28 lakh hectares have already been covered under Kharif crop sowing in Gujarat this year. The total area under Kharif crop was 86.47 lakh hectares in 2008-09.