Sowing of Kharif crops is gaining momentum.
Normal area under rice is about 406 lakh hectares. Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Bihar are major rice growing States with normal areas of 58.5, 44.4, 42.3, 37.2 and 34.6 lakh hectares respectively. Rice sowing has picked up in Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Punjab, Uttaranchal and Tamil Nadu.The rice sowing has also started in Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Orissa. The area coverage is reported to be 33.5 lakh hectares compared to 35.5 lakh hectares during last year in the corresponding period.
Normal area under cotton is about 88 lakh hectares. Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh are major cotton producing States with respective normal areas of 31.5, 16.4, 10.5, 5.7, 5.3, 5.2, 5.8 and 5.1 lakh hectares. Sowing of cotton is in progress in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Sowing is almost complete in Punjab and Haryana. Area coverage reported so far is 18.5 lakh hectares against 15.5 lakh hectares in the corresponding period last year. Punjab has reported 5.5 lakh hectares as compared to 5.8 lakh hectares covered during last year in the corresponding period. Area coverage in Haryana is 6.1 lakh hectares as compared to 5.3 lakh hectares during last year in the corresponding period.
Normal area under Kharif coarse cereals is about 231 lakh hectares. Sowing of jowar is in progress in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Haryana. The total area of 7.2 lakh hectares has been sown as compared to 5.8 lakh hectares during the corresponding period of the previous year. Maize sowing is in progress in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Punjab, Uttaranchal, West Bengal and Maharashtra. It has also started in Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. The area coverage is 14.1 lakh hectares as compared to 9.7 lakh hectares during last year. Due to rains, bajra sowing has taken place in all the States except Madhya Pradesh. Area covered this year in the case of bajra is 10.3 lakh hectares against 11.4 lakh hectares during last year in the corresponding period. The total area coverage under coarse cereals is 32.3 lakh hectares as compared to 28.4 lakh hectares during last year.
Normal area under sugarcane is about 43 lakh hectares. Uttar Pradesh Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh are major sugarcane producing States with respective normal areas of 19.5, 5.9, 4, 3.2 and 2.2 lakh hectares. Sowing of sugarcane is almost complete. Area coverage so far this year is about 37 lakh hectares as compared to 45 lakh hectares covered in the corresponding period last year. Uttar Pradesh has reported 19.8 lakh hectares under sugarcane as compared to 23 lakh hectares sown during the corresponding period last year. Bihar has reported 1.7 lakh hectares as compared to last year’s coverage of 1.9 lakh hectares. However, Maharashtra has reported 2.6 lakh hectares against 5.3 lakh hectares last year and Tamil Nadu has reported 1.9 lakh hectares against 2.45 lakh hectares last year.
Normal area under jute is 8.5 lakh hectares. West Bengal is a major jute producing State with a normal area of 6.3 lakh hectares. Sowing of jute is almost complete. Area reported for jute so far is about 6.7 lakh hectares as compared to 7.8 lakh hectares in the corresponding period last year. About 5 lakh hectares has been covered so far in West Bengal against 5.9 lakh hectares covered last year during the corresponding period. Normal area under Mesta is 1.85 lakh hectares. Area covered under Mesta so far is about 1.1 lakh hectares.
Kharif oilseeds account for nearly 65% of total oilseeds area and about 60% of total oilseeds production in the country. The normal area under total Kharif oilseeds is 154 lakh hectares. Important Kharif oilseeds are groundnut, soyabean, sesamum, sunflower, niger and castor with respective normal areas of 56.9, 62.9, 16.7, 4, 4.7 and 8.6 lakh hectares. Area sown under groundnut is 11.96 lakh hectares against last year’s coverage of 8 lakh hectares. Area sown under sunflower is 2.67 lakh hectares as against 0.26 lakh hectares covered in the corresponding period last year. Reported area under sesamum is 2.69 lakh hectares against last year’s coverage of 1.70 lakh hectares. Area coverage under soyabean is 3.56 lakh hectares as against 0.84 lakh hectares during the corresponding period of the previous year. Total Kharif oilseeds sown is 21.24 lakh hectares as against last year’s coverage of 10.85 lakh hectares during the corresponding period.
Kharif pulses account for 48% of total pulses area and about 37% of total annual production of pulses in the country. Area coverage so far is 3.14 lakh hectares against 0.96 lakh hectares during last year in the corresponding period. Major Tur producing States are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat with respective normal areas of 10.5, 4.5, 4.1, 5.2 and 3.4 lakh hectares. The sowing of Kharif pulses has commenced in Karnataka, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, J & K and Nagaland.
As on the twenty-fifth of this month, total water storage in the 71 important reservoirs monitored by the Central Water Commission was 19% of the full reservoir level (FRL) of 131.28 billion cubic meters. This is 165% of the last year’s level and 108% of last 10 years’ average.
(Release ID :2239)