Area under cultivation still behind 2003 levels

Notwithstanding the revival in monsoon since the last week of July, kharif prospects for some important crops still remain uncertain. Area under cultivation is still lagging behind last year's level in crops like coarse cereals and pulses, although in cases like cotton and oil seeds, it has shown improvement.

According to India Meteorological Department, the number of sub-divisions reporting scanty or no rainfall had steadily increased in the month of July.The last week of July had seen as many as 15 sub-divisions out of 36 reporting a scanty rainfall.

Although the number of sub-divisions reporting scanty rainfall declined substantially to just three by the end of the second week of August, the overall situation was not very rosy.

Twenty-seven sub-divisions out of 36 have reported a cumulative seasonal (Jun.1-August 11) rainfall in excess to normal while 9 have reported a deficient cumulative rainfall in the same period.

The number of subdivisions reporting excess rains declined to 12 in the week ended August 11 from 17 a week ago. While the number of subdivisions reporting normal rains was unchanged at 6, those with deficient rains went up from 9 to 15. Of these, nine subdivisions had rainfall deficiency of more than 20 per cent.

This shows that the revival of monsoon in late July has slowed down, at least in some areas.

By August 11, Northwest India remained the only grouping that had deficient rainfall. It received 287.5 millimetres of rainfall up to August 11, 22 per cent below normal. This comprises states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, Punjab, Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir.

Central Indian states have received a cumulative rainfall of 624.2 millimetres up to August 11, which is 1per cent above normal. This grouping includes Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Maharashtra, and Gujarat.

South peninsular states-Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, Kerala and Lakshadweep-received 406.7 millimetres of rainfall up to August 11, 10per cent below normal.

The Northeast states have received 884.40 millimetres of rainfall up to August 11, 4per cent below normal. This group includes Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

India as a whole received a cumulative rainfall of 519.4 millimetres ofrainfall, 7per cent below normal.

According to the Central Water Commission, water availability at 71major reservoirs was 55.77 billion cubic meters as on August 13, up 4.93 billion cubic meters from a year ago, and 16.39 billion cubic meter on week.

The storage for the week ended August 13 was at 30per cent of full reservoir levelof 131.28 billion cubic meters, unchanged on week.

The condition of major kharif crops as on August 16, reported by government's National Crop Forecasting Centre, today are as follows: Area under rice crop is reported at 25.98 million hectares, up from previous week's 22.06 million hectares, but lower by 1.27 million compared to previous year.

States that reported major shortfalls included Gujarat (short fall of 9.0per cent) Himachal Pradesh (43.6per cent), Jharkhand (18.8per cent), Madhya Pradesh (15.20per cent), Maharashtra (21.7per cent), Rajasthan (39.8per cent), Uttar Pradesh (9.10per cent), Bihar (26per cent).

Jammu and Kashmir reported a rise of 47.50per cent in area under rice crop, while Tamil Nadu showed a rise of 63.9per cent, Assam reported a rise by 29.70per cent.

Area coverage reported so far is 7.89 million hectares, higher than 7.29 million hectares in the corresponding period of last year, and also up from 7.50 million hectares reported last week.

States, which reported higher area under cotton on year, were Andhra Pradesh (a rise of 39.5per cent), Karnataka (55.2per cent), Orissa (27.6per cent) and Punjab (21.5per cent).

States that reported a fall included Rajasthan (12.8per cent) and Tamil Nadu (37.5per cent).

The area under coarse cereals so far this season has been lower than last year. At 18.63 million hectares, the area under this crop is 11.87per cent lower than 21.14 million hectares in the corresponding of last year, but higher than previous week's 16.12 million hectares.

Among coarse cereals, jowar and bajra reported shortfall in area under cultivation of 14.03per cent and 25per cent respectively on year. On the other hand, area under maize was 2.59per cent higher on year.

States showing a shortfall in area under coarse grains were Andhra Pradesh (17.2per cent), Himachal Pradesh (43.6per cent), Madhya Pradesh (15.20per cent) and Rajasthan (31.40per cent). States with higher area were Gujarat (19per cent) Karnataka (48.8per cent) and Tamil Nadu (16.30per cent).

Area under jute unchanged at 0.07 million hectares was 1.2per cent behind last year's 0.08 million hectares.

Assam and West Bengal reported a fall of 7.4per cent and 19.4per cent respectively in area under this crop.

Total area cultivated under kharif oilseeds is 15.96 million hectares, up 10.60per cent from 14.43 million hectares last year and 13.80 million hectares a week ago.

Groundnut, soyabean, and sunflower seeds showed improvement in area under cultivation on year, whereas sesamum, niger and castor seeds showed a fall.

Pulses showed no signs of improvement over previous week. At 8.32 million hectares, the area under pulses was 43.9per cent lower than 12.7 million hectares a year ago.

States that reported large shortfalls were Andhra Pradesh (26.20), Gujarat (21.8per cent), Maharashtra (11.4per cent) and Rajasthan (83.2per cent). At the same time, Chhatisgarh, Karnataka, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh reported a rise in area under pulses.