The late revival of rains may enthuse oilseed farmers to extend kharif sowing for another 10 days to recover the loss in acreage of the most remunerative crop last season. The uneven distribution of rains had led to a fall in the kharif sowing area by 1.65 per cent this year.
Barring soybean, the sowing area of almost all oilseeds have fallen this kharif on scanty rain, especially in the major producing states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh.
| SHOWER OF HOPES Cropwise sowing area (lakh hectares) | |||
| Aug 1, '07 | Aug 1, '08 | Change | |
| Oilseeds | |||
| Groundnut | 44.39 | 41.27 | -3.12 |
| Soybean | 79.37 | 87.70 | 8.33 |
| Sesameseed | 11.97 | 10.96 | -1.01 |
| Nigerseed | 0.90 | 0.63 | -0.27 |
| Sunflowerseed | 5.71 | 2.01 | -3.70 |
| Castorseed | 4.39 | 1.74 | -2.65 |
| Total | 146.73 | 144.31 | -2.42 |
| Cotton | 79.20 | 69.70 | -9.50 |
| Foodgrains | |||
| Rice | 207.60 | 231.30 | 23.70 |
| Coarse cereals | 179.60 | 151.40 | -28.20 |
| Pulses | 92.90 | 71.00 | -21.90 |
| Total | 480.10 | 453.70 | -26.40 |
As per the latest estimates of the Central Organization for Oil Industry & Trade, the apex body of the vegetable oil industry and trade in the country, major losses in area have been witnessed in sunflower seed and groundnut, while the area under soybean has risen significantly by 842,000 hectares (ha).
Area under groundnut fell 7 per cent to 4.12 million ha as on August 1 this year as against 4.43 million ha at the same time last year. Area under sesame seed declined marginally by 8.44 per cent to 1.10 million ha from 1.197 million ha, nigerseed area reduced 30 per cent to 63,000 ha from 90,000 ha last year.
Area under sunflower seed slumped by 64.8 per cent to 201,000 ha from 571,000 ha while that for castorseed dropped 60.36 per cent to 174,000 ha from 439,000 ha by the end of July last year.
In contrast, acreage area under soybean perked up this season by 7 per cent to 8.77 million ha as on August 1 this year as compared to 7.94 million ha on the same day last year.
Sowing of oilseeds in the kharif season is continuing as the commodity fetched almost 60-65 per cent additional returns high global price last year.
The inherent leader in groundnut sowing and output, Gujarat, remained at the top this year as well with a total coverage area of 1.76 million ha (1.65 ha) followed by Andhra Pradesh with 983,000 ha (1.12 Million).
Karnataka reported a total groundnut sowing area of 413,000 ha this year compared with 585,000 ha last year.
As per the fourth advance estimates for nine oilseeds in 2007-08, the production was 28.83 million tonnes. The final production of nine major oilseeds in 2006-07, according to the government, was 24.29 million tonnes, which means a rise of 18.67 per cent in 2007-08 over 2006-07.
