Maharashtra pulses acreage dips 92 per cent till July 4

Sowing of kharif pulses in Maharashtra has come down by 92 per cent this year on deficient rainfall. Its sowing is already 15-days behind schedule, with total acreage as on July 4 reported at 0.21 million hectares compared with the ususal 2.6 million hectares.

Normally, pulses' sowing ends by this time. But, the farmers are likely to wait for 10 more days for normal rains to resume.
 

STUNTED GROWTH Pulses acreage area in "00" hectare (as on July 4, 2008)
Crops	Normal  area	Actual  sown area	% to normal   area	Target area   for (year) of season	% to (year) target  area	Last year sown area on June 29, '07	Last year sown % on June 29, '07
Tur	10,587.00	752.03	7.1	12710	5.9	2093.87	19.8
Urad	5852	457.57	7.8	5705	8	1149.47	19.6
Moong	7088	631.63	8.9	7169	8.8	1506.67	21.3
Other pulses	2302	210.85	9.2	2151	9.8	277.9	12.1
Total	25829	2052.08	7.9	27735	7.4	5027.91	19.5
Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Maharashtra

 

"If rains do not begin within 10 days, then farmers may switch to another crop such as maize, soybean and cotton "� the three rain-fed crops," said S P Goenka, director of U Goenka Sons, a Mumbai-based pulses importer.

K C Bharatiya, president of the Pulses Importers Association, however, denied any knowledge of such deficit in acreage. He said, "It's premature to estimate that sowing area has declined as time has not yet run out."

In anticipation of lower output on delayed rains, urad and tur prices in the spot Mumbai market have jumped 15 per cent in the last two days to Rs 2,575 and Rs 2,700 per quintal, respectively.

India produces about 14 million tonnes of pulses and imports, largely from Myanmar, about 25,00,000 tonnes annually. The Myanmar crop is reported to be normal this year.

According to the latest study by the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), rainfall was normal in 27 and deficient in 9 out of 36 meteorological sub-divisions between June 1 and 24 this year.

The actual cumulative rainfall in the first 4 weeks was 154.0 mm against the ususal 122.3 mm, a deviation of 26 per cent. In this process, 27 divisions received excess-to-normal rainfall and 9 divisions received deficient-to-scanty rainfall among the 36 meteorological divisions under consideration.

Most of the crops received inadequate rainfall in sowing stages as certain meteorological regions such as Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat received deficient rains.

However, the progress of vulnerable crops is expected to improve following the Indian Metereological Department's (IMD) prediction of a good rainfall along the western coast in the coming week.

The prices of sensitive pulses shot up abut 25 per cent last year.