Deficient rains cause for concern

MONSOON WATCH

The overall pace of crop sowing in the current kharif may be satisfactory, but the deficiency of the monsoon rainfall in as many as 12 of the total 36 meteorological sub-divisions is causing concern.

Pockets in several agriculturally important regions such as Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have received only scanty rainfall, causing delay in crop sowing in the unirrigated areas.

The country as a whole has received 14 per cent below normal rainfall between June 1 and July 19 this year.

Fortunately, many rain-starved areas have received good showers in past couple of days. Besides, the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) has predicted that the present rainy spell in the western Himalayan region and the plains of north-west India is likely to continue for another two days and decrease gradually after that.

Moreover, it has also forecast an increase in rainfall in Orissa, Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand, east Madhya Pradesh, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Vidarbha during next 2 to 3 days.

Subsequently, the rain-bearing weather system may move west-northwestwards to cause good rains in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra including Konkan and Goa.

These rains should help speed up crop sowing, agriculture experts feel. However, they also point out that the delayed sowing might require relatively higher fertiliser application to ward off adverse effect on crop yield.

In its agro-advisories, the NCMRWF has said that the situation is now favourable for farmers in Chhattisgarh and Vidarbha to take up transplanting of paddy.

In Madhya Pradesh, central Maharashtra, Gujarat and east Rajasthan, the farmers have been advised to sow groundnut, soybean and pulses such as arhar, moong and urad.

Elsewhere, the farmers are being advised to quicken the pace of sowing of paddy. Vegetables like tomato, brinjal, cauliflower and some others can be planted now in east Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, north-eastern states and the north-western India.

A redeeming feature of the present agro-hydrological situation is copious storage of water in major 76 reservoirs.

Total water stored in these dams was estimated by the Central Water Commission on July 21 at 52.26 billion cubic metres (BCM), about 18 per cent higher than last year's corresponding storage of 44.37 BCM and whopping 43 per cent above the past ten years' average storage.

Almost all river basins, barring the Ganga and Narmada basins, have more than average storage. However, the storage in dams in the Ganga basin is below 10-year average level by 48 per cent and in the Narmada basin by 55 per cent.

The reports on kharif sowing received by the agriculture ministry till July 24 indicate that crops such as paddy, pulses, cotton and sugarcane have been planted on more acreage this year than in past year till this date.

However, the sowing of predominantly rainfed crops such as coarse cereals, notably bajra, and oilseeds is lagging behind due chiefly to delayed and low rainfall in several areas, especially Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Pulses have, however, gained in area due to higher prevailing prices.

The transplanting of paddy, the main kharif cereal, is currently in progress almost all over India. Till July 24, over 4.3 million hectares had been covered under this crop, against 13.2 million hectares planted till this date last year. Thus, paddy sowing is over on some 37 per cent of the normal area.

Among coarse cereals, while sowing of bajra is poor thus far, that of maize has been higher than last year. Reports suggests larger areas being planted with maize this year in states like Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Of the commercial crops, the prevailing higher prices of sugar, which have enabled the sugar factories to make prompt payments to cane growers, has led to an increase in acreage under this crop.

About 4.4 million hectares have already been brought under sugarcane, against the normal area of 4.2 million hectares. This is likely to lead to higher sugar production in the ensuing cane crushing season beginning October next.

Oilseed crops have been planted on 11.6 million hectares thus far. This is about 0.5 million hectares less than 12.1 million hectares sown with these crops last year. However, crop sowing is still continuing and more area is likely to be covered under oilseeds.

Kharif pulses have been sown on 5.9 million hectares, about two lakh hectares more than the corresponding coverage last year.