Sowing speeds up as monsoon advances

MONSOON WATCH

With the monsoon having already covered the bulk of the country, barring some areas in the north-west, the agricultural operations have gathered momentum.

Despite the temporary set back to crop planting during the weak monsoon phase between June 8 and 20, more area has been sown with crops like paddy, sugarcane and pulses this year than during the same period last year.

However, the pace of sowing of cotton and oilseeds, notably groundnut, has been relatively slow this season.

The revived monsoon is gradually gaining in strength and has already advanced in past couple of days into some more parts of Gujarat, Vidharba, Chhattisgarh and east Uttar Pradesh; some parts of west Uttar Pradesh, many parts of Madhya Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh and most part of Jammu and Kashmir.

The northern limit of monsoon passed today through Bhuj, Ahmedabad, Guna, Jhansi, Barielly, Dehradun, Shimla, Dharamshala and Jammu.

According to the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), the monsoon is likely to remain in an active phase for some more time.

It may advance further to the remaining parts of west Uttar Pradesh, west Madhya Pradesh, east Rajasthan, Uttaranchal and some parts of Haryana and Delhi within next 5 Days, which would be considered a timely onset.

A cyclonic circulation currently lies over Bay of Bengal which is expected to intensify into a low pressure area over northwest and adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal during next one to two days.

This system is projected to move in west- northwest direction across Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. Under its influence, rains are likely to increase in the next two to three days in the Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa and Coastal Andhra Pradesh.

Subsequently, rains are likely in Chhattisgarh, east Madhya Pradesh, Vidharba, east Uttar Pradesh and Telangana under this system. Besides, rainfall is expected to enhance also in Konkan and Goa and Madhya Maharashtra.

Southern peninsula, as also the north-eastern region, where the monsoon arrived earlier than the normal schedule, have been getting good rains in the revived monsoon phase.

The north-western part of the country, which is yet to receive the monsoon showers, has been experiencing intermittent pre-monsoon rainfall in the past couple of days. Similar weather is expected to continue till the monsoon reaches this region in the next few days.

The weather man has, however, issued heavy rainfall warning for a few areas in coastal Karnataka, Konkan and Goa. Isolated heavy rainfall (around 7-12 cm) is also likely in Kerala, Orissa, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, Madhya Maharashtra, Assam, Meghalaya, east Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal in the next few days.

The all-India rainfall data for the period June 1 to 21 shows that 17 of the total 36 meteorological sub-divisions had received either excess or normal rainfall while an equal number of sub-divisions reported deficient rainfall.

Two sub-divisions had scanty rainfall. The actual cumulative rainfall during this period was 71.9 mm, some 24 per cent below the normal of 94.9 mm for this period.

Reports from states indicate that paddy sowing is apace almost all over the country, even in the north-western region where the monsoon is yet to arrive.

Though paucity of power has been reported from this area, but the farmers are managing to irrigate the fields with the help of diesel pumps to ensure timely transplanting of paddy.

The sowing of coarse cereals has begun in the whole of south and some parts of northern states, including Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

In cash crops, cotton planting is reported to be almost at its fag end in Punjab, Haryana and Ganganagar (Rajasthan) belt. But elsewhere, its sowing is gradually gathering pace. Sugarcane sowing has been relatively much faster this year.

The total area under the crop is expected to rise as the cane growers have been receiving prompt payment for their produce. Many sugar factories have been giving fertilisers and other inputs as gifts to the cane growers to procure higher supplies.

Similarly, pulse crops are also being planted over large areas this year thanks to high prevailing prices. The farmers are, however, anxiously awaiting the government's announcement of the new minimum support prices for the kharif crops, including foodgrains, oilseeds and pulses.