India's kharif rice sowing up 19% so far on account of good rains

Among cash crops, cotton planting has risen by 11.29 per cent to 121.25 lakh hectares so far in the current kharif season

Area sown to rice, the main kharif crop, has increased by 19 per cent to 26.660 million hectares so far across the country in the current kharif season on account of good rains, the agriculture ministry said on Friday.

Among cash crops, cotton planting has risen by 11.29 per cent to 12.125 million hectares so far in the current kharif season of the 2020-21 crop year (July-June) from 10.895 million hectares in the year-ago period.

Sowing of kharif crops begins with the onset of southwest monsoon from June, while harvesting from October onwards.

"There has been satisfactory progress of sowing area coverage under Kharif crops. ...so, as a whole, there is no impact of Covid-19 on progress of area coverage under kharif crops as on date," the ministry said releasing the latest sowing data of kharif crops.

It also said that the Centre is taking several measures to facilitate the farmers and farming activities at field level during the Covid-19 pandemic.

As per the data, higher rice planting area has been reported in states of Bihar (1.001 million hectares) followed by Madhya Pradesh (819,000 hectares), Jharkhand (750,000 hectares), West Bengal (460,000 hectares), Uttar Pradesh (457,000 hectares), Odisha (401,000 hectares), Chhattisgarh (390,000 hectares) and Telangana (328,000 hectares).

Pulses sowing has increased by 19.26 per cent to 11.191 million hectares area till August 31 of the ongoing kharif season compared to 9.384 million hectares in the year-ago period.

Area sown to moong has increased by 37.42 per cent to 2.957 million hectares from 2.152 million hectares, while that of urad by 21 per cent to 3.338 million hectares from 2.764 million hectares and arhar area increased by 8 per cent to 4.005 million hectares from 3.709 million hectares in the said period.

Higher area under pulses has been reported from Rajasthan (525,000 hectares) followed by Madhya Pradesh (379,000 hectares), Maharashtra (343,000 hectares) and Uttar Pradesh (116,000 hectares) so far this season, the data showed.

Coarse cereals acreage rose 6.52 per cent to 14.834 million hectares so far this kharif season from 13.926 million hectares in the year-ago period. Maize acreage rose 2.36 per cent to 7.430 million hectares from 7.258 million hectares in the said period.

In case of oilseeds, the sowing area rose by 16.80 per cent to 17.534 million hectares so far in the current kharif season from 15.012 million hectares in the year-ago period.

Soyabean area rose by 8.35 per cent to 11.662 million hectares from 107.64 per cent in the said period.

In case of sugarcane, the area coverage rose to 5.178 million hectares so far in the current kharif season as compared to 5.120 million hectares during the corresponding period last year.

Total area under all kharif crops rose 13.92 per cent to 88.218 million hectares of area against 77.438 million hectares in the said period.

The ministry said the actual rainfall received in the country was 447.1 mm in June-August period as against the normal of 443.3 mm.The Central Water Commission (CWC) has reported that the live water storage in 123 reservoirs in different parts of the country was 141 per cent of the corresponding period of the last year.