Pulses sowing picks up; over 35 pc area sown so far

Sowing of pulses has seen a jump of 35 per cent to 136.04 lakh hectares so far in the ongoing kharif season on good rains and higher market price.
Pulses acreage (area sown) stood at 100.57 lakh hectares in the same period last season, raising hopes of higher production and softening of high retail prices once the new crop reaches markets.
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.
"The total sown area as on August 19 stands at 992.76 lakh hectare as compared to 938.57 lakh hectare at this time last year," an official statement said.

Paddy has been sown/transplanted in 346.38 lakh hectares so far this kharif season as against 334.26 lakh hectares in the last season, it said.
Area under coverage for coarse cereals stood at 180.20 lakh hectares up from 167.69 lakh hectares last year, it added.

Oilseeds sown area has also gone up to 175.49 lakh hectares from 168.49 lakh hectares.
However, sugarcane sown area fell to 45.55 lakh hectares from 49.60 lakh hectares. Sown area for cotton too declined to 101.54 lakh hectares from 110.23 lakh hectares.
Jute acreage fell to 7.56 lakh hectare from 7.73 lakh hectare in the said period.

Sowing of paddy and other kharif crops begin 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) due to two consecutive drought years.
On hopes of better rains this year, the government is targeting a record production of 270 million tonnes in 2016-17 crop year.