Area under kharif crops crosses 100 mln hectare

Sowing of kharif crops picked up pace last week with the total acreage crossing 100 million hectare in the country, government said today.
However, area of 101.92 million hectare under kharif crops this year so far is lower than acreage of 104.46 million hectare during the same time last year.
Sowing of kharif crops showed a steady increase during this week. The total sown area as on September 26 as per reports received from states, stands at 101.92 million hectare as compared to 104.46 million hectare at this time last year, an official release said.
Sowing of kharif crops begins with the onset of monsoon as a majority of the agriculture land in the country is dependant on rains. As on date the monsoon deficiency has come down to 12 per cent.

As per the latest Agriculture Ministry data, acreage of rice has increased to 37.48 million hectare from last year's level of 37.42 million hectare.
Similarly the area under cotton has also risen to 12.65 million hectares from 11.43 million hectares during the year ago period.

However acreage of all other major kharif crops as on September 26 is still lower than last year's level.
Area under coarse cereals currently stands at 18.23 million hectare, pulses at 10.10 million hectare, oilseeds at 17.75 million hectare, sugarcane at 4.87 million hectare and Jute & Mesta at 8.15 million hectare.
The area under these crops is still lower than the year-ago period because sowing operations got delayed due to late arrival of southwest monsoon. With kharif crops covered in less area, overall production is expected to be affected.

Aiming to make up for shortfall in some summer crops, the Centre had asked state governments to focus during the rabi season on 3.37 million hectare that was left unsown due to delayed monsoon.
The government has set a rabi production target of 94 million tonnes (MT) for wheat this year.