The hopes of kharif rice sowing catching up with the acreage covered in the previous season are fast receding with the gap continuing to be around 5 lakh hectares.
Kharif rice planting has so far covered 377 lakh hectares (lh) against 382 lh in the previous season, according to the data released by the Agriculture Ministry on Friday.
The fact that many parts of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh continue to receive deficient rains during the current monsoon seems to have had an impact on kharif sowing, with the total area covered at 1,055 lh (against 1,063 lh).
The total area under pulses so far is stuck at 141 lh as compared to an acreage of 146 lh in kharif 2016.
The cultivation of oilseeds, too, has declined 8.72 per cent to 172.94 lh. The sown area under coarse cereals stood at 185 lh — 2.48 per cent less than last year.
Cotton, planted over an area of 122 lh (18.68 per cent increase), and sugarcane whose acreage is close to 50 lh (9.44 per cent higher) were the only kharif crops to register an expansion in acreage as compared to the previous season.