The Hindu Business Line : Kharif sowing picks up with revival in monsoon activity

Crop-wise details
Under coarse cereals, 8.306 lh covered so far against 13.577 lh last year.
In the case of maize, it is 4.781 lh compared with 5.593 lh.
For groundnut, the acreage is 2.53 lh against 3.97 lh.

New Delhi June 22 With the southwest monsoon turning out to be a normal one so far, sowing for the current kharif season is gradually picking up.

According to the Agriculture Ministry's latest Crop Weather Watch report, released here on Friday, a total area of 23.14 lakh hectares (lh) have been till now planted under rice, which is marginally lower than the 23.39 lh during the same period last year.

There is a similar lag in the case of coarse cereals (8.306 lh versus 13.577 lh), with these being 4.781 lh and 5.593 lh for maize, 0.686 lh and 4.357 lh for bajra and 1.78 lh and 2.51 lh for jowar. Even for oilseeds, the cumulative acreage of 4.52 lh is below last year's corresponding level of 7.83 lh, while amounting to 2.53 lh and 3.97 lh for groundnut, 0.24 lh and 1.01 lh for soyabean, 0.81 lh and 1.58 lh for sunflower, 0.77 lh and 1.07 lh for sesamum and 0.17 lh and 0.18 lh for castor.

On the other hand, farmers have planted 15.29 lh under cotton so far, which is higher than last year's progressive area of 14.707 lh. Of the 15.29 lh, as much as 8.68 lh has been sown under Bt cotton, according to the report. Area under sugarcane and jute are, however, lower at 44.02 lh and 45.44 lh and 7.864 lh and 8.176 lh, respectively.

Recorded rainfall

"The sowing lag will reduce, with the resurgence of monsoon activity over the last one week", official said. During the week ended June 20, the country as a whole recorded an area weighted average rainfall of 51 mm, or a third more than the `normal' (long period average) of 38.3 mm for this week.

As a result, the cumulative rainfall for the season (June 1-20), at 87.8 mm, was only slightly below the normal 89.3 mm for this period. The monsoon has generally been good, barring in a few regions such as Gujarat, East Rajasthan, East Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh.

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