Sowing of kharif crops, including paddy, is lagging significantly in the country with total acreage at 182.72 lakh hectares as of June 25, down 23 per cent as compared to 236.46 lakh hectares a year earlier, amid delayed onset and sluggish progress of the southwest monsoon, according to agriculture ministry data.
Not only rice but also pulses, oilseeds, coarse cereals and cotton have seen lower sowing than the year-ago period. Sowing of kharif crops normally begins with the onset of southwest monsoon from June. According to the latest data, paddy acreage, the main kharif crop, was down 25.17 per cent at 25.75 lakh hectares as on June 25, against 34.41 lakh hectares last year.
Pulses sowing lagged by 30.47 per cent at 14.92 lakh hectares versus 21.46 lakh hectares, while oilseeds area plunged 53.33 per cent to 16.99 lakh hectares from 36.41 lakh hectares. Among pulses, tur/arhar sowing stood at 3.56 lakh hectares against 8.45 lakh hectares.
In oilseeds, groundnut area fell to 8.87 lakh hectares from 15.29 lakh hectares and soybean to 6.92 lakh hectares from 19.97 lakh hectares. Coarse cereals acreage declined to 31.84 lakh hectare from 36.07 lakh hectare.
Cotton sowing dropped 34.61 per cent to 29.66 lakh hectares from 45.36 lakh hectares in the said period. However, sugarcane area saw a marginal increase to 57.31 lakh hectares from 56.64 lakh hectares, while jute and mesta acreage was also slightly higher at 6.25 lakh hectares compared to 6.13 lakh hectares.
The southwest monsoon, critical for kharif sowing, has been 42 per cent below normal as of June 24, with central India facing a 59 per cent deficit, East and Northeast India 41 per cent, South Peninsula 28 per cent, and Northwest India 22 per cent, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
El Nino conditions are currently present over the equatorial Pacific Ocean and are expected to strengthen further during the June-September monsoon season.
Reservoir levels also remain a concern. The total live storage in 166 important reservoirs monitored by the Central Water Commission (CWC) as on June 25 stood at 48.405 billion cubic metres (BCM), or 26.37 per cent of full reservoir level (FRL) capacity.
This is 73.21 per cent of last year's storage and 105.67 per cent of the normal level. Out of 166 reservoirs, 111 reported more than 80 per cent of normal storage, while 55 were at 80 per cent or below, with 29 of those at 50 per cent or less of normal storage.
Also read: Seed firms have 20-30 pc surplus stock for kharif season: FSII
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