Paddy sowing up 2.27 pc so far; area up in states like K'taka

Area sown to paddy, the main kharif crop, has gone up by 2.27 per cent to 383.34 lakh hectare so far in the 2018-19 kharif season on higher acreage in states like Karnataka, Telangana and Tamil Nadu, as per the Agriculture Ministry's data released Friday.

Paddy acreage stood at 374.81 lakh hectare in the year ago period. Kharif sowing begins with the onset of southwest monsoon from June and harvesting starts from October.

As per the latest sowing data, higher coverage of paddy area is reported from Telangana, Karnataka, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, among others.

Area sown to oilseeds remained higher at 177.29 lakh hectare so far in the current kharif season as against 171.98 lakh hectare in the year-ago period on increase in sown area in Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Bihar, among other states.

However, pulses was sown in an area of 137.41 lakh hectare so far this season, almost close to 138.60 lakh hectare in the same season last year.

Coarse cereals were also sown in lesser area at 175.46 lakh hectare as against 182.23 lakh hectare earlier.

Among cash crops, cotton was sown in 120.56 lakh hectare so far in this kharif season, slightly lower than 120.98 lakh hectare in the year-ago period.

Sugarcane was sown in higher area of 51.94 lakh hectare as against 49.86 lakh hecatre, while jute/mesta was sown in 7.02 lakh hectare compared to 7.09 lakh hectare.

In total, all kharif crops were sown in 1,053.03 lakh hectare so far in the current kharif season, higher than 1045.55 lakh hectare in the year-ago period, the data showed.