The area under paddy in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand is higher than a year ago even as overall transplanting of paddy is down by 10 per cent. With rainfall expected to continue in many States over the next two weeks, the rainfall deficit during the current monsoon may shrink. However, the coverage of pulses continues to be lower due to decline in the area under tur (pigeon pea) and urad (black matpe).

Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Jharkhand reported deficient rainfall during the last kharif season. As a result, the yield of paddy was affected. The acreage was much lower in Jharkhand, but almost at par with normal levels in UP and Bihar. Despite this, kharif rice production was 110.03 million tonnes (mt). For the current crop year to June 2023, the government has set a production target of 134 mt for rice, including 111 mt in the kharif season.

“It is encouraging to see the areas is higher in some key States, including Haryana, which is the largest basmati grower. West Bengal, the country’s send biggest paddy producer in the kharif season, has just started and will pick up as there is a prediction of rain for the next two weeks in the east and north-east,” said a senior official. There is no concern for Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana either as many areas are irrigated through borewells, the official added.

Also read: Deficient rains unlikely to impact kharif paddy acreage, say rice exporters

Paddy acreage across the country has reached 103.22 lakh hectares (lh) as of July 14 against 114.42 lh a year ago, the Agriculture Ministry data showed. In the last five seasons, the average was 399.45 lh.

Widespread rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is very likely to continue over Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh during the next five days, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Friday. Also, isolated heavy rainfall has been predicted over Himachal Pradesh and east Rajasthan.

Fairly widespread rainfall with isolated heavy rainfall is very likely over coastal Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Kerala during next five days, IMD said.

Lower storage level

The Central Water Commission data showed the storage level in the 146 major reservoirs in the country was 33 per cent of the total live storage capacity of 178.185 billion cubic metres (BCM) as on July 13. This was six percentage points lower than the same period a year ago, but higher than normal.

According to Agriculture Ministry data, the total acreage under all kharif-sown crops is 536.1 lh as of July 14 against 560.1 lh in the corresponding period a year ago, official data on the Agriculture Ministry’s NFSM portal showed. The coverage is nearly half of the season’s normal acreage of 1,091.73 lh.

Acreage of all pulses combined has been reported at 56.67 lh and oilseeds acreage is down by 10 per cent at 113.751 lh. The sowing area under nutri- and coarse cereals, however, is 16 per cent higher at 104.99 lh due to higher planting of bajra. Sugarcane acreage is a tad higher than a year ago at 55.81 lh.

Cotton still trails

Among the pulses, tur has been sown on 14.11 lh until July 14 (against 24.55 lh a year ago), moong (green gram) 21.23 lh (20.06 lh) and urad on 13.42 lh (15.8 lh). In the oilseeds category, groundnut sowing has been reported on 28.72 lh (28.33 lh) and soyabean on 79.71 lh (93.61 lh). In coarse cereals, maize area reached 43.84 lh (46.45 lh), bajra 50.09 lh (34.36 lh) and jowar 8.64 lh (6.82 lh).

Cotton acreage, which initially looked higher, declined 5 per cent to 95.3 lh from 100.36 lh as planting is lower in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Telangana. But, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have reported a higher acreage. Jute and mesta acreage reported a fall of 8 per cent at 6.35 lh.

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