Sowing areas fall by 38.96L ha till July 12: Agri Ministry
Rice sowing has declined in a big way — 23.54 lakh hectare — in six of the top 10 rice producing States. The data shows rice sowing acreage at 97.77 lakh hectare as compared to 121.31 lakh hectare so far.
Similarly, five of top 10 pulse producing States have seen fall in sowing by 14.94 lakh hectare so far.
Monsoon deficiency and flood are seen as main reasons behind the shortfall in sowing of kharif crops. Monsoon deficit for the country as a whole fell to 12 per cent by Friday.
As per latest data released by the Agriculture Ministry on Friday, kharif crops sowing areas overall declined by 38.96 lakh hectare till July 12. The Agriculture Ministry’s data is based on the information and reports provided by the State Governments on kharif crops sowing.
West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh are the States which have witnessed a fall in rice crop sowing areas this year.
The rice sowing acreage is down by 2.83 lakh hectare in Chhattisgarh, 2.66 lakh hectare in Bihar, 2.57 lakh hectare in Assam, 2.43 lakh hectare in Uttar Pradesh, 2.26 lakh hectare in Haryana, 1.99 lakh hectare in Madhya Pradesh, 1.82 lakh hectare in West Bengal, 1.22 lakh hectare in Arunachal Pradesh, and 0.38 lakh hectare in Andhra Pradesh.
According to officials of Agriculture Ministry, some States have attributed decline in acreage of rice sowing to deficient monsoon while some blamed flood. Assam and Arunachal Pradesh have reported flood-like situation while other rice producing States are facing deficient rainfall due to delayed arrival of southwest monsoon to start kharif crops sowing.
Nagaland, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Punjab have reported higher rice sowing acreage so far. As per the third advance estimate of rice production, it is estimated 115.63 million tonnes in 2018-19.
Similarly, pulses cultivation too is languishing as compared to last year, mainly in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan, MP and Telangana.
The data shows area pulses area lagged at 4.45 lakh hectare in Maharashtra; 3.81 lakh hectare in Karnataka; 1.58 lakh hectare in Rajasthan; 1.26 lakh hectare in Madhya Pradesh and 1.02 lakh hectare in Telangana so far.
As per Agriculture Ministry, pulses production is expected to be over 36 million tonnes that include 10.09 million tonnes of gram and 3.05 million tonnes of tur.
The acreage of coarse cereals sowing is also fallen by over 12 lakh hectare. Coarse cereals was sown at 71.17 lakh hectare as compared 83.30 lakh hectare.
Till July 12, India received 239.2 millimeters of rainfall as compared to normal of 270.1 mm, which was 12 per cent less than normal.
According to Central Water Commission (CWC), water level in 91-odd reservoirs across the country was 35.10 Billion Cubic Meters (BCM) as on July 11, which is 5.69 per cent less than the storage level during the same period last year.
In early July, this level was 26.94 BCM, which was almost 17.31 BCM less than the corresponding period of 2018.
