Kharif sowing nearing end; pulses area up by 33 pc

Kharif season sowing is nearing completion, with area under pulses rising by about 33 per cent to 142.02 lakh hectares so far on the back of good monsoon and higher market price of lentils.
Pulses acreage (area sown) stood at 106.92 lakh hectares in the same period last season, raising hopes of higher production and softening of retail prices.
The government expects pulses production to increase to 20 million tonnes in the 2016-17 crop year (July-June) from 16.47 million tonnes in the previous year.
As per data released by the Agriculture Ministry, pulses acreage has gone up significantly in Rajasthan at 32.88 lakh hectares, followed by Maharashtra (25.27 lakh hectares), Madhya Pradesh (21 lakh hectares) and Karnataka (17.8 lakh hectares) so far in the ongoing kharif season.

Pulses area has also gone up in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Jhakhand, the data showed.
Meanwhile, harvesting of moong has begun in parts of Karnataka and Rajasthan, and the government is gearing up to procure the lentil at the minimum support price (MSP) to avoid distress sale by farmers.

According to the ministry's data, area sown under oilseeeds has improved marginally to 179.60 lakh hectares so far from 178.67 lakh hectares in the year-ago period.
The sowing area of paddy, the main kharif crop, has also increased marginally to 372.95 lakh hectares from 364.43 lakh hectares earlier.
Coverage for coarse cereals stood at 184.13 lakh hectares from 175.59 lakh hectares last year.

However, sugarcane area fell to 45.57 lakh hectares from 49.60 lakh hectares. Sown area for cotton too declined to 101.96 lakh hectares from 114.17 lakh hectares.
Jute and mesta acreage fell to 7.56 lakh hectares from 7.73 lakh hectares.
Total area sown under all kharif crops has risen to 1,033.99 lakh hectares from 997.11 lakh hectares in year-ago period.
Sowing of kharif crops begins with the onset of southwest monsoon from June and harvesting starts from October.
The Met Department has forecast better than normal rains for the four-month season ending September.
India produced around 252 million tonnes of foodgrains in each of the past two crop years (2015-16 and 2014-15), impacted by two consecutive drought years.

Amid hopes of better rains this year, the government is targeting a record production of 270 million tonnes in 2016-17 crop year.