Farmers advised to continue sowing

Farmers in areas which have received scanty rains should defer sowing of kharif crops until the next spell of showers, National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting said on Monday.

However, farmers in the north-eastern and southern regions have been advised to continue with sowing operations, the agency said.

"As the monsoon is not likely to revive during the next seven days in central and western parts of the country, farmers in these areas are advised to defer sowing of kharif crops until the next spell of rains," the weather agency said.

It said though the model predictions available for the period suggest weak monsoon may continue during next 24-48 hours, there are favourable conditions that could lead to possible revival of rains over south peninsular India.

The agency said the revival of monsoon may not be strong initially but the current is likely to strengthen subsequently.

The India Meteorological Department said southwest monsoon, which has been subdued for more than a week now, is likely to revive over extreme southern peninsula in the next 2-3 days.

The country's June-to-September monsoon is crucial for crops such as rice, oilseeds, coarse cereals, sugarcane and cotton, as more than 60 per cent of the country's agricultural land is rainfed.

Rice: In the advisory issued by National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting, farmers in the north and northeast have been asked to raise paddy nurseries by selecting varieties such as K-39, Palam Dhan-12, Pusa Basmati.

"Due to prevailing hot conditions, sufficient water should be kept standing in the nursery to avoid iron deficiency," the advisory said.

Since mainly a dry weather is predicted for next 5-7 days in central India, farmers in the region have been advised only to prepare fields for sowing paddy nursery and other kharif crops.

"Farmers in eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand are advised to raise medium and short duration varieties of paddy under irrigated conditions," the agency said.

Maize: Farmers in northern and north-western regions have been advised to continue maize sowing during the week.

Cotton: Advised not to delay cotton sowing and sowing of high-yielding varieties have been recommended in Punjab and Haryana. Farmers in Orissa, Rajasthan, Maharashtra have been advised light irrigation after every 4-5 days since the crop is in an early sowing stage.

Oilseeds: In Rajasthan and Karnataka, Orissa, Maharashtra, where groundnut is currently being sown, farmers have been advised to carry out operations under proper irrigated conditions, using high yield variety of groundnut.

In Uttaranchal, due to high temperature and low moisture content, farmers have been advised to defer groundnut sowing.

Pulses: Farmers in Delhi and Orissa have been asked to continue with pigeon pea sowing, while moong and urad have been suggested for Jammu and Kashmir and Karnataka.

Sugarcane: Sugarcane is in a developing stage in Punjab and Maharahtra, and irrigation after an interval of 7-12 days has been recommended due to hot weather conditions.

Farmers have also been advised to conserve moisture and use compost fertiliser if dry weather prevails and then irrigate.

In Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, sugarcane sowing has been recommended.