80% kharif sowing completed in Gujarat

Sowing of kharif crops has been 80 per cent completed in Gujarat with an increase in area under agriculture for commodities such as soybean, cotton and til.

Sowing has been completed in about 70,44,900 hectare as on August 1, 2005 of the total agricultural land of 84,44,400 hectare in Gujarat, according to the data available from the agriculture department of Gujarat.

Sowing has also gained momentum in the flood affected parts of the central and south Gujarat too for the current kharif season. Sowing for oilseeds is almost complete in the state as Saurashtra region had received a good rain in the first round of the monsoon.

Groundnut has been sown in 17,99,600 hectare, castor in 1,23,700 hectare, soybean in 30,200 hectare and til in 3,77,500 hectare. However, the average area under oilseeds has changed dramatically this year.

During the last five years average area under groundnut was at 18,83,400 hectare, area under til was 3,64,600 hectare, under castor was 3,38,000 hectare and under soybean was 15,000 hectare.

It may be mentioned here that area under soybean has doubled during the current fiscal, according to agriculture department of the state government.

In central and south Gujarat, area under soybean in Vadodara was at 1,000 hectare, in Bharuch it was 3,300 hectare, in Surat it was 3,900 hectare and Narmada reported 3,100 hectare.

Dahod has also emerged as the largest grower of soybean in the state with about 15,600 hectare agricultural land. Sowing of soybean at Dang and Sabarkantha has been reported at 1,100 hectare and 1,600 hectare respectively.

Among pulses, tuar has been sowed on 2,36,800 hectare, moong on 1,30,500 hectare, muth on 31200 hectare and others pulses on 1,15,000 hectare. About 78 per cent of sowing of pulses was completed by August 1 in the state.

Paddy has been sown on 2,84,200 hectare, which is about 45 per cent of the normal agricultural land under this crop compared to last five years' averagke area. Bajra, juar and maze have been sown on 7,202 hectare, 58,800 hectare and 4,21,700 hectare respectively. Cotton has been cultivated on 18,72,600 hectare, guarseed on 1,33,900 hectare and vegetables on 84,600 hectare.