Kharif sowing nearly 8.5% up as monsoon in full swing

livemint.com:

Kharif sowing has picked up pace. Agriculture ministry data shows that farmers have cultivated  crops across 73 million hectares till Friday, nearly 8.5% higher than the corresponding period last year. This could be due to an improvement in rainfall in July across most parts of the country.

Rainfall in the country during 1 June-23 July was 5% above normal at 389.2 mm. While two regions, Central and Northwest India, have received 15% and 40% more showers, respectively, precipitation in South Peninsula and East & Northeast India remain 10% and 23% deficient during the same period. Although area coverage under paddy has been up 3% to 18 million hectares, the acreage of pulses fell 10% to 8.6 million hectares.

In particular, tur or pigeon pea cultivation remains snail-paced, lagging 6% at 2.7 million hectares. The lag can largely be attributed to poor sowing of the crop in major growing states like Karnataka that is 9% rainfall deficient. Area under urad or black gram was also around 2.5% lower than last year at 2.2 million hectares.

Tur and urad together account for two-thirds of the country’s pulses production. Prices of these two pulses have been skyrocketing since the beginning of 2022-23 Kharif marketing season due to unseasonal rains weighing on their production. Any disturbance to these crops in the ongoing crop year started July may keep prices firm.

In the case of paddy, the main Kharif crop that contributes about 80% of India’s total rice production, plantation of the crop was initially delayed due to lack of rainfall. As per agriculture ministry data, the acreage of coarse cereals has gone up to 13.5 million hectares as against 12.9 million hectares during the same period last year. In the non-foodgrains