Kharif sowing in Gujarat is seen under a threat as monsoon gets delayed by more than a week from the earlier forecast of June 15 by the met department. Groundnut and cotton sowing is feared to fall considering a delay in the monsoon, informed the state government officials.
According to officials from the directorate of agriculture, the sowing may fall if it fails to rain in next one week. "There are fears of a fall in the sowing area of kharif crops including groundnut and cotton in case of further delay in monsoon. If it does not rain in next one week in the key growing areas, there could be a trouble for kharif sowing," informed a senior officer at the directorate of agriculture.
The kharif season has started in April-May and the sowing for major kharif crops. While sowing for groundnut and cotton has started in parts of the state, cereals and pulses would be sowing as the monsoon approaches in the key growing regions.
As per the government statistics, kharif crops are cultivated on about 8 million hectares in Gujarat. So far in the current season, the sowing has been taken up on nearly 600,000 hectares.
The met department has also admitted the delay in monsoon. "The monsoon system which was expected to bring rains in parts of Gujarat has failed. Now, we expect a new monsoon system to get formed in next week. The depression seems to have weakened in Gujarat and has moved upwards to Rajasthan. But the monsoon current has already spread across the state indicating the onset of monsoon," said Kamaljit Ray, director, India Meteorological Department (IMD) - Ahmedabad.
Agriculture experts maintained that the pre-monsoon showers witnessed on the coastal regions earlier this month had damaged cotton sowing. "Replanting had to be taken up for cotton in the coastal region of the state due to pre-monsoon showers. However, the area for replanting is less than 10 per cent of the total cotton acreage in the state. Now, there is a potential threat to the groundnut sowing also if it does not rain in next 10-15 days," informed Biren Vakil, a commodity expert based in Ahmedabad. "The signals are not good. Situation may turnout to be disastrous for the allocation of resources if monsoon gets delayed further," added Vakil.
The analysts have remained calm over the delay of the monsoon. "Even though there is a threat for cotton and groundnut sowing if rain gets delayed further, but a week's delay should not create panic. The agriculture is quite strong in the state, hence there won't be much trouble if the rains get delayed by a week or so," said Jagdeep Garewal, research analyst at Kunverji Commodities.
Groundnut and cotton growing regions in the state include districts like Junagadh, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Amreli and Surendranagar. Even as these districts had witnessed pre-monsoon showers earlier this month, large part of the northern and central Gujarat awaited for monsoon. Oilseeds and pulses are mainly grown in the parts of central and northern Gujarat.
