Backed by a good monsoon and availability of seeds in plenty, kharif sowing in West Bengal in 2011-12, is expected to be in line with the target set by the State Government.
For the year 2011-12, the West Bengal Government has set a target of cultivation in five million hectares of land for all kharif crops put together. While paddy and jute are the major kharif crops in the State, there are other crops such as maize, cereals, pulses and oilseeds which are also cultivated during the kharif season.
“The target for paddy acreage is 4.3 million hectares (mha), against 3.6 mha achieved last year. The jute acreage is likely to be 5.9 lakh hectares, maize – 57,000 hectares, cereals – 15,000 hectares, pulses – 77,000 hectares and oilseeds at 14,000 hectares. The State has received good rains so far during this year and if the monsoon continues to be good then we hope to meet the target and complete sowing by the end of August,” said Mr Sarthak K. Barma, Director of Agriculture, West Bengal.
On paddy production, he said: “With an average expected yield of about 2.5 tonnes a hectare, the State is likely to produce 11 million tonnes of paddy in the kharif season this year against eight mt last year.”
The State had received lower than anticipated rainfall last year and that had impacted the kharif sowing. Production of paddy, which is the largest kharif crop for the State, had seen almost 30 per cent drop last year, compared with the year ago period.
Kharif sowing in the State usually goes on till the end of August or early September. According to provisional data available so far, the State has already achieved up to 45 per cent of the total kharif sowing. “In north Bengal, the sowing is very good at about 70 per cent,” Mr Barma told Business Line.
Rice production
Burdwan, Birbhum, Nadia and Hooghly are the four high rice productivity districts in the State, and consist of about 27 per cent of the total rice acreage, and 32 per cent of the total production. Districts such as 24 Parganas, Murshidabad, Bankura, Malda, Midnapore, Dinajpur and Howrah fall under the medium productivity areas.
The total area under rice cultivation in the State is about 5.9 mha, and the State produces about 16 mt of rice every year in three seasons — Aus, Aman and Boro. Production during the boro or winter season is about 4.5 mt. The other two are cultivated in the summer or kharif season.
Jute scene
Raw jute sowing witnessed a rise of 20 per cent this year at 120 lakh bales, against 100 lakh bales last year, backed by a favourable weather and adequate availability of seeds in the market, according to Mr Manish Poddar, Chairman, Indian Jute Mills' Association.
Jute sowing usually starts by the end of March and continues up to the end of May. Raw jute production in 2010-11 was slightly lower in spite of good sowing as the harvesting was hampered on account of lower than anticipated rainfall last year.