Normal rains spur kharif crops acreage

MONSOON WATCH

With barely about a fortnight left for the four-month monsoon season (June to September) to end, it is now clear that not only has the rainfall been normal and well distributed, but the kharif crop sowing has also been extensive. Already about 100 million hectares have been seeded with kharif crops against the long-period average whole season coverage of 100.8 million hectares.

And with rainfall still continuing in most parts of the country, barring the north-western plains and central region, where the monsoon is currently subdued, the total kharif sowing this year is all set to exceed the normal coverage by a good measure. The area sown is already about 4.5 per cent ahead of the last year's and paddy transplanting is still apace in several states in the South and elsewhere.

The cumulative monsoon rainfall till the first week of September in the country as a whole has been 2 per cent above normal though north-west India has remained short by about 11 per cent of rains. Of the total 36 meteorological sub-divisions, 31 have received excess or normal rainfall, while five have remained deficient with rainfall shortage there being in excess of 20 per cent. These sub-divisions are (deficiency in brackets): Punjab (-24 per cent), Haryana and Delhi (-33 per cent), Himachal Pradesh (-32 per cent), west Uttar Pradesh (-34 per cent) and east Madhya Pradesh (-35 per cent).

In terms of administrative districts, 360 (or 70 per cent) of the total 512 districts have received normal or above rainfall, while 134 (26 per cent) have remained rain-deficient. There are only 18 districts (4 per cent) that have received scanty rainfall. Eight districts in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh have been declared drought-hit by the state government.

Where temporal distribution is concerned, rainfall this season has almost followed the normal course. There have been only two significantly low-rainfall phases during the whole season. These were the second and third weeks of July and, again, the third week of August.

But these spans were not long enough to disrupt crop planting or adversely affect the growth of emerging seedlings.

However, most parts of rain-deficient regions, especially in the north-west, have well developed irrigation facilities to support and sustain the standing crops throughout the growing period. While underground water reserves are expected to have been adequately recharged to ensure water supply for well irrigation, water reservoirs on major rivers have been sufficiently re-stocked to maintain water flows in canals for crop irrigation and other purposes.

The total water storage in the country's 81 major water reservoirs, which have a combined irrigation command potential of 16.24 million hectares, was estimated by the Central Water Commission at 109.19 billion cubic metres (bcm) as on September 6, 2007.

Though this level is about 8 per cent below the last year's water stock on the same day, it is substantially 22 per cent higher than the normal for this period. The total hydel power production capacity of these dams is 14,533 mw.

Reports received by the agriculture ministry from states regarding sowing and condition of crops indicate expansion of area under most crops, barring jowar among cereals, jute and mesta among fibre crops and sunflower and sesamum among oilseeds. While some of jute and mesta acreage have been diverted to paddy in West Bengal, the sunflower area has gone largely to maize, especially in Karnataka, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Paddy sowing is practically over in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, though it is still in progress in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, besides some other states. The total area under the crop till September 7 was estimated at 34.69 million hectares against 34.53 million hectares planted during the year-ago period.

Sowing of major kharif pulses is also over and the total area planted under these crops is reckoned at 12.05 million hectares, some 10.9 per cent higher than the last year's acreage of 10.86 million hectares.

Similarly, the area under kharif oilseeds is estimated at 17.18 million hectares, up about 7.8 per cent from the last year's 15.94 million hectares.

Groundnut is the major gainer in area (up 12.6 per cent), thanks largely to better plantings in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Soybean has gained about 8.9 per cent additional area due to increased sowing in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. The area under industrial oilseed castor has also expanded substantially by 17.7 per cent, largely in Gujarat.

However, reports also indicate emergence of pests and diseases on several crops in different states, though the incidence so far is low to moderate in most places. Yellow mosaic virus is reported on pulse crops in Uttar Pradesh, especially in the Kanpur region.

In Yeotmal district of Maharashtra, heavy rains followed by dry weather have caused reddening of cotton leaves due to thrips attack. Agricultural experts have advised farmers to spray Endosulfan to control this.

In fish ponds, especially shrimp farms, cloudy weather is reported to have caused depletion of oxygen and reduction of water alkalinity in some areas. The farmers have been advised to provide aeration in these ponds. Addition of lime or limestone in ponds has been suggested to restore alkalinity for healthy fish growth.