Amid concerns over possible restrictions on rice exports, the deficit in the sowing of the area under paddy continues to shrink as transplanting gathers pace. Overall, the acreage of all kharif crops has crossed 96 per cent of the normal area of 1,085 lakh hectares (lh). It is lower by 1.6 per cent from the same period a year ago. If the weather remains conducive for another month, the country may see another bumper harvest even if slightly lower than last year when a record output was achieved.
In the last kharif season, foodgrains production was a record 154.93 million tonnes (mt), exceeding the target of 151.43 mt on the back of a normal monsoon and fairly good distribution across the country. This season, the government has fixed a target of 163.15 mt, including 112 mt of rice.
413.13 lh target
The area under all kharif crops has reached 1,045.14 lh as of Friday, down from 1,061.92 lh a year-ago, according to the weekly update released by the Agriculture Ministry. While cotton, sugarcane and coarse cereals have reported higher acreage, the area under paddy, pulses and oilseeds has declined.
The deficit in paddy acreage has further shrunk to 6 per cent at 367.55 lh against 390.99 lh a year ago, adding nearly 24 lh in the past week. The decline was 8 per cent until August 18 and 12 per cent until August 12. The government has earlier set a target of 413.13 lh for the area under paddy.
Wire agencies, quoting unidentified sources, said the Centre is considering restricting the export of 100 per cent broken rice.
West Bengal and Odisha together have a 77 lh target under paddy this kharif and there is a deficit of about 5 lh in each State whereas it was 10 lh each until August 18. So, these two States together contributed 42 per cent to the additional paddy area over past week. In most other States, the sowing of paddy has been completed.
Shift to other crops
The area under arhar, moong and urad has declined this year due to a shift towards cotton and soyabean in many States. The total area under pulses has declined by 5 per cent to 127.71 lh from 134.37 lh. Moong (green gram) was covered in 32.4 lh (-4.2 per cent), urad in 36.2 lh (-4.7 per cent) and arhar in 44.1 lh (-6.6 per cent). The area under arhar, the only kharif-grown pulses crop, is down in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Telangana, but up in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
Oilseeds acreage has declined by 1 per cent to 186.48 lh, down from 188.62 lh a year ago. Soyabean acreage was 119.83 lh, down from 120.55 lh a year ago. Until last week, the area under soyabean was a tad higher. The coverage by farmers of soybean in Madhya Pradesh is lower — 50.05 lh against 55.13 lh —, but the acreage in Maharashtra and Rajasthan is higher this year. The area under groundnut continues to slide from last year. It is 44.75 lh against 48.35 lh a year ago with its sowing nearly over.
Kharif coverage of cotton is stagnant at 123.09 lakh hectares (lh) until Friday, up by 6 per cent from the year-ago period, according to latest official data.
The cotton acreage standsat 124.55 lh, up 6.5 per cent from 116.91 lh. Of this, Bt cotton has been reported on 116.05 lh area this year.
The area under coarse and nutri-cereals has increased by 4.1 per cent to 176.3 lh from 169.4 lh, mainly due to higher sowing of bajra and maize. The area under bajra has gone up by 11 per cent to 70.12 lh from 63.19 lh and that of maize by 2.3 per cent to 80.85 lh from 79.06 lh. Jowar acreage has declined by 4.3 per cent to 13.71 lh from 14.33 lh and ragi’s dipped by 20 per cent to 6.22 lh from 7.73 lh.