Kharif crop area rises on good rains

MONSOON WATCH

Thanks to a well-distributed monsoon rainfall this season, the kharif sowing is far better than the last year's.

The total planted area is up by about 5 per cent, with commercial crops such as cotton, sugarcane, selected oilseeds and pulses showing significant gains in acreage.

Even coarse cereals such as maize and bajra, which have industrial demand, have been seeded on a relatively larger area. The coverage under paddy is more or less the same as that of the last year.

The standing crops are reported to be in excellent shape in most places, barring the flood-hit areas of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and a few other states.

Though pests have been noticed in several places, nowhere has their infestation reached the threshold level where it would begin impairing crop yields.

Farmers in the flood-ravaged areas of Bihar have been advised by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to transplant relatively older (40 to 50 days old) seedlings of paddy varieties such as Pankaj, Rajshree, Vaidehi and Sudha once the water level in the low-lying fields drops to below 2 feet.

In the uplands, the farmers have been advised to go in for short-duration rice varieties such as Rajendra Sweta, Pusa 2-21, IR-36, Saryu-5, Pusa 834 and Pant Dhan.

In Assam, farmers can broadcast pre-germinated seeds of paddy varieties such as Luit, Kopil and Culture-1 till mid-September. For the flood-hit tract of Uttar Pradesh, rice varieties such as Jalmagana and Jainidhi have been recommended for fields under deep water. Rice varieties such as NDR 97, NDR 118 and NDR 1 have been suggested for post-flood planting till the end of August.

The total monsoon rainfall in the country between June 1 and August 8 is estimated by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) at 565 mm, some 7 per cent more than normal. Significantly, the distribution of this rainfall, in terms of both space and time, has been near normal.

The cumulative rainfall has been 24 per cent above normal in south peninsular India and 12 per cent above normal in central India. North-west India received about 5 per cent below-normal rainfall and the North-East just 2 per cent below normal.

In terms of time, the rainfall has been either above or near normal in most part of this monsoon season, barring the middle of July (between July 11 and 25), when it was 20 per cent to 30 per cent below normal. (see accompanying chart).

Such an evenly spread rainfall is deemed to be a boon for crop planting as well for its germination and growth. If the post-monsoon rainfall in October also turns out to be good, the country can look for a bumper kharif harvest.

However, more rains are predicted for Bihar, east Uttar Pradesh and the north-eastern states in the next few days due to the presence of an upper air cyclonic circulation over this region. Another upper air cyclonic circulation is likely to form over north Bay of Bengal around August 18, which may keep the monsoon active.

The total water storage in the country's 78 major reservoirs was estimated by the Central Water Commission at 83.83 billion cubic metres (bcm) on August 9. This is 58 per cent above the long-period average, though about 2 per cent below the level recorded at this time last year.

Notably, 70 of these 78 reservoirs have above 80 per cent storage, while four others have between 50 and 80 per cent storage and one between 30 and 50 per cent storage. Two dams "" Vanivilas Sagar (Karnataka) and Rihand (Uttar Pradesh) "" have below 30 per cent storage, while Sriramsagar (Andhra Pradesh) has no live water storage. The comfortable water stock bodes well for harnessing the hydel power production capacity of these dams estimated at over 12,100 mw.

Reports received from states by Krishi Bhawan indicate that 85 per cent of the kharif sowing had been completed by August 10. The area under sugarcane is reckoned to have risen by 6 per cent, thanks largely to a shift of some land from jowar to this crop in Maharashtra. The cane area in Punjab and Bihar has also increased.

The area under pulses has expanded by about 9 per cent, reflecting their high ruling prices. Tamil Nadu has witnessed a perceptible spurt in pulses cultivation in response to the government's move to distribute about 266 tonnes of improved seeds of these crops.

The 7 per cent rise in oilseed acreage is due largely to expansion of area under groundnut in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh and soybean in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

Cotton area has risen in almost all cotton-producing states due largely to the availability of pest-protected Bt hybrids, which have replaced traditional seeds from more than half of the area.

Acreage under jute and mesta has, on the other hand, declined marginally. The harvesting of these crops has already begun in some areas.