The Centre has set a target to increase area under zaid crops (excluding paddy) — grown between rabi and kharif seasons — by 29 per cent at 52.72 lakh hectares (lh) this year. Of this, 21.05 lh will be under pulses, 13.78 lh under oilseeds and 17.89 lh under coarse cereals.
Paddy area in the last summer season was about 40 lh and that may remain in the range of 30-40 lh this year though the government wants diversification from rice, an official said. Summer rice is grown mainly in West Bengal, Telangana, Karnataka, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and Bihar.
Pulses , cereals
Among pulses, moong is the most preferred one and the government targets 17.58 lh under summer moong, mainly in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, against 14.45 lh actual last year. In oilseeds, major summer grown crops are groundnut and sesame where the targets are fixed at 7.6 lh and 5.25 lh, respectively. Among coarse cereals, summer maize has been targeted in an area of 8.79 lh against 7.85 lh actual last year.
The additional area increase targeted is to come from rice fallows, inter-cropping in oil palm and sugarcane, besides the normal summer areas, the official said.
Post-monsoon, the country received 44 per cent more than normal rains at 177.7 mm during October-December and in the first three weeks of January the rainfall was nearly three times higher than average at 31.8 mm.
Addressing the annual conference on summer crops, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the objective of the conference was to review the performance of these crops during the preceding three cropping seasons and fix crop-wise targets for the coming summer season in consultation with the State governments. The priority of government is to increase production of oilseeds and pulses where large imports are required, he said.
Fertilisers supply
Tomar also asked participating States in the conference to plan in advance for their fertilisers needs and provide estimates to the Centre and ensure sufficient quantity of crop nutrients are made available in time. He suggested that States should work towards increasing the use of NPK and liquid urea to reduce the dependence on DAP fertiliser.
The Fertilisers Secretary Rajesh Kumar Chaturvedi said that adequate and timely availability of fertilisers would be ensured in ensuing season and the government has estimated total availability of urea at 255.28 lakh tonnes (lt), DAP 81.24 lt, MOP 18.50 lt, NPKS 76.87 lt and SSP 34 lt for Kharif 2022.