Kharif crops in good condition; not hit by rains: Pattanayak

The harvest-ready kharif crops of this year are in good condition and have not been affected by recent heavy rains in some parts of the country, Agriculture Secretary Shobhana K Pattanayak said today.
The minor losses due to rains in the isolated pockets was factored in during the first projection made last month with respect to total kharif (summer) foodgrains output for the 2017-18 crop year (July-June), he said.
As per the first estimate, kharif foodgrains output is likely to be lower at 134.67 million tonnes in 2017-18 from 138.52 MT in the year-ago period.
"The recent rains have not impacted the 2017-18 kharif output. The crops condition is very good in the entire country," Pattanayak told PTI.

The southwest monsoon has nearly gotten over. During the monsoon withdrawal phase, there were rains in isolated pockets but that has not impacted the harvest-ready crops, he said.
Harvesting of most kharif crops is underway. More than 10 MT of paddy has been harvested and brought to mandis in Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh so far, as per the official data.

Farmers, who have harvested their crop, have started preparing fields for sowing of rabi (winter) crops.
Asked about rabi sowing, Pattanayak said: "It will start this week. Rabi crop prospects are really good."
The agriculture ministry has kept foodgrains production target of 137.55 million tonnes for rabi season of this year. Wheat is the main crop besides pulses.