Significant improvement in seasonal rainfall after a prolonged lull in many parts of the country has helped push up the area under the kharif crops and as a result the drop in planting as compared to same period last year came down to around 2 per cent.
According to weekly sowing data released by the Agriculture Ministry on late Friday, farmers have planted kharif crops over 934 lakh hectres (lh) as compared to 956 lh sown in the corresponding week last kharif season.
Rice, which accounted for the third of the total sown area, was planted over 310 lh till Friday, nearly 3 per cent lower than 319 lh in the same week last year. While many traditionally rice-growing States such as Bihar, Chhattisgarh. Jharkhand reported a dip in rice planting, the area is marginally higher in Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra as compared to same week in the previous year.
The area under pulses, on the other hand, is up by 2 per cent thanks mainly due to an increase in the area under arhar, which is 5 per cent more than the corresponding week last year. The pulses have haven planted over 120 lh as compared to nearly 117 lh last year. The drop is mainly due to a marginal shrink in area under moong and urad crops.
Poor rains in Madhya Pradesh have affected the oilseeds acreage. The area under oilseeds is down by nearly 3.5 per cent to 173.5 lh as compared to same week last year. According a CRISIL report on Friday, , the dry spell up to mid-July in Madhya Pradesh, caused damage to soybean crop due to poor germination rate. Following the higher price of Soybean seeds, farmers have preferred Direct Seeded Rice over Soybean as monsoon got better subsequently, the CRISIL report said. As per the Agriculture Ministry, Madhya Pradesh has planted soyabean only over 51.67 lh as against 57.81 lh in the corresponding week last year. Maharashtra on the other hand planted soyabean over an additional 7 per cent area.
Another crop that registered significant drop in planting as compared to same week last year was cotton, which is planted over 116 lh as compared to nearly 124 lh in the same period last year.
There is also a marginal 2 per cent decrease in coarse cereals acreage at 153 lh, even though maize, which accounted for half the coarse cereals area, registered 3 per cent increase to 76 lh.
According to India Meteorological Department, the country as a whole received 449 millimetres of rains during the first half of the monsoon season, bringing down the deficit to just 1 per cent as compared to the long period average of 452 mm.