As pre-monsoon showers swept across large swathes of India, planting of kharif crops is gaining pace, with early trends indicating that farmers were opting for cotton, pulses and oilseeds.
In the days ahead, kharif planting is expected to get a further fillip from the timely onset of the South-West monsoon, which is expected to hit the Kerala coast on Tuesday.
Weather conditions are seen conducive for the onset of the monsoon in Kerala on Tuesday, in line with the Indian Meteorological Department’s prediction, and about two days ahead of schedule.
In recent weeks, ‘normal’ pre-monsoon showers have drenched the drought-affected southern Peninsula, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, the North-East and Jammu and Kashmir. Rajasthan and Bihar received excess rains during this season. As per the Agriculture Ministry data, till May 26, kharif planting had taken place in about 69.16 lakh hectares, about 11 per cent higher than the corresponding period last year.
“We are hopeful of a normal monsoon and we expect to repeat last year’s performance in terms of foodgrains production,” Agriculture Secretary SK Pattanayak told BusinessLine .
As per the latest estimates, foodgrains production touched a high of 273.38 million tonnes in 2016-17.
The pre-monsoon showers have been good and helped farmers prepare themselves for kharif planting. “We will get a clearer picture over the next 15-20 days,” Pattanayak added. The Agriculture Ministry has firmed up the foodgrains production targets internally and expects to finalise them once the IMD issues a near-term outlook on the progress of the monsoon.
Cotton on a rollThe area under cotton has increased by 27 per cent so far, at 11.24 lakh ha, from 8.84 lakh ha in the corresponding last year. In Punjab and Haryana, where planting of cotton is almost coming to an end, farmers are returning to the fibre crop, drawn by higher prices.
“The prospects for cotton are better than last year and we expect the overall area to increase if the monsoon arrives on time and makes timely progress. So far, our sales have been good,” said B Ramasami of Attur-based Rasi Seeds, a major cottonseed player.
The area under oilseeds has also increased in the early sowings. “There is likely to be a 5-7 per cent shift in area from oilseeds, mainly soyabean, to cotton, largely in Maharashtra on account of better realisation from the fibre crop and also due to higher carry forward stocks,” said BV Mehta, Executive Director of Solvent Extractors Association of India. The area under maize too has increased. In Karnataka, the major producer of kharif maize, there has been a three-fold increase at 25,000 ha.
Among pulses, the area under urad bean and green gram have jumped in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, where planting has commenced.
The area under sugarcane is also set to rise this year. So far, in Maharashtra, the cane acreage for the 2017-18 season is up 45 per cent, at 9.18 lakh ha, against last year's 6.33 lakh ha. Sanjeev Babar, Managing Director of the Maharashtra State Cooperative Sugar Factories Federation, attributes the increase to better rainfall last year.
(With inputs from Rahul Wadke in Mumbai)