Paddy sowing lags; pulses, cereals up

India’s paddy sowing this kharif season has declined sharply by 20 per cent from 28.6 million hectares last year due to poor rains in the northwest region of the country, especially Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, according to the agriculture ministry data released today.

The ministry said as on August 6, area coverage of paddy was 22.8 million hectares. Normally, paddy acreage in the kharif season is around 31.9 million hectares.

India received actual weighted monsoon rainfall of 376.6 mm between June 1-August 5, 25 per cent below normal. Rains were deficit in 23 of the 36 meteorological subdivisions in the country and scanty in two — leaving all parts of the country, barring peninsular India, Gujarat and Orissa, parched.

Sowing of oilseed so far was marginally down at 15.1 million hectares, against 15.6 million hectares in the same period last year.

The sowing data, however, showed an improvement in kharif pulses and coarse cereals. The area under pulses was up at 7.9 million hectares from 7.0 million hectares from the year ago period.

The ministry said sowing of coarse cereals, which comprise jowar, bajra and maize, improved to 16.6 million hectares from 15.7 million hectares last year. Area under maize increased to 6.5 million hectares from 6.0 million hectares from the year ago period.

Sowing of kharif crop normally begins in the first week of June with the onset of monsoon and continues until mid-July.

India’s cane sowing was also marginally down at 4.2 million hectares so far this season, compared with 4.4 million hectares during the corresponding period last year.

The data showed a significant improvement in kharif cotton sowing. The area under cotton was reported at 9.3 mln ha, compared with 7.9 million hectares from a year ago period.

Likewise, castor sowing also showed an improvement of nearly 15 per cent at 376,000 hectares from the same period last year. .