The area under oilseeds and pulses in Andhra Pradesh is likely to fall this kharif. The monsoon, which started off well in the first week of July, failed to spread out evenly across the State, hitting sowing activity in several parts.

Against the normal area of 7.76 lakh hectares under pulses, the State reported sowings only in 76 per cent. With sowing schedule coming to an end, farmers say that there could be no further coverage. Sowings in red gram, mainly a kharif crop, covered only 3.66 lakh hectares or 84 per cent of the area.

The other two noteworthy pulses — green and black gram, were sown in 72 per cent and 55 per cent of their normal areas of 1.95 lakh hectares and 71,000 hectares respectively, a senior official of the State Agriculture Ministry said.

Groundnut, which is grown in 12 lakh hectares, too is expected to suffer heavily in the kharif. Groundnut farmers have covered only 71 per cent of the total area and there is little hope of any increase in area as they would have completed sowings by now. Sunflower crop faces a complete rout as only 17 per cent (7,000 ha) of the 52,000 hectares has been covered so far. Castor, too, could fare badly as only 61 per cent of the 1.86 lakh hectares has been covered as on Wednesday.

The other two major losers could be chillies and onion. Area under chilli dipped to just 22 per cent of the total 1.66 lakh hectares.

Onion sowings are down to 14,000 hectares or 55 per cent of the total 28,000 hectares.

However, the main crops of paddy, sugarcane and maize are looking up as the coverage is above normal. Soyabean has gained the maximum, with its plantings doubling to 2.84 lakh hectares.

>kurmanath.kanchi@thehindu.co.in

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