The Government played down fears of a poor monsoon with the Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar terming the situation “not that serious.” Yet, the 31 per cent shortfall in rains so far has delayed sowing of key kharif crops such as rice, oilseeds and pulses.
“By and large, the position is not bad, as sowing goes on up to first week of August. There is still ample opportunity to cover up the gap seen today,” Mr Pawar told reporters.
Citing the India Metrological Department forecast, Mr Pawar said rains were expected to be good in July and August. The country receives about 70 per cent of its yearly rains in these two months.
Sowing is complete in about 9 per cent of the normal kharif area, Mr Pawar said. The planting of early sown crops including maize, jowar and bajra in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Rajasthan has been delayed by the scanty rains.
The Minister Said that States have been told to prepare a contingency plan to deal with any further delay in the monsoon. States have been asked to keep ready seeds of pulses and oilseeds to be distributed to farmers to take up sowing of alternative crops in the event of delay in rains, Mr Pawar said.
“The situation provides for an increase in the area under pulses and oilseeds,” Mr Pawar said. India’s imports of edible oil and pulses accounted for more than Rs 50,000 crore in 2011-12. The Government has been trying to increase domestic production through various initiatives including higher support price.
Mr Pawar said rice has been sown on 3.96 million hectares so far, marginally higher than the normal area but less than the previous year’s coverage. “The overall situation in rice is not worrisome,” he said. Coarse cereals have been sown on 1.4 million hectares, pulses on 40 lakh hectares and oilseeds on 1.08 million hectares, he said.
The country had ample foodgrain stocks, almost more than twice the buffer norms thanks to record output last year. As of July 1, wheat stocks with the Government stood at 50.1 million tonnes against the buffer norm of 21.2 million tonne. Similarly, rice stocks stood at 32.1 million tonnes against the norm of 11.8 million tonnes, Mr Pawar said.
The Minister said the reservoir position was marginally higher than the normal storage capacity, but lower than last year levels. Water storage in reservoirs is 63 per cent of last year and 103 per cent of the normal storage. Mr Pawar said the storage is lower than normal in Maharasthra, Karnataka, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Jharkhand.