An extended monsoon and the delayed onset of winter have impacted rabi sowing in Gujarat, say State government officials.  So far, only 46 per cent of sowing of the average annual sowing area of 46 lakh hectares has been completed. 

While wheat, gram (chana), mustard and potato seem to be the most preferred crops this rabi season, sowing has been completed on 21.44 lakh hectares. “Weather anomalies are the main reason for the delayed sowing this year. This year the rains continued till October. We also had to issue an advisory to the farmers to delay the sowing as the temperatures were high for the Rabi sowing,” SJ Solanki, Director of Agriculture, Gujarat Government told businessline. 

In November Gujarat government issued an advisory to farmers asking them to delay the Rabi sowing as winters had not set in and the high temperatures prevailing in the state during October-November were not ideal for the germination of Rabi crops. “We are expecting that the rabi sowing will pick up in the coming week,” Solanki said. 

However, representatives of farmer bodies have a different take. “Usually, by the end of November or the first week of December, the majority of Rabi sowing ends in Gujarat. This year has been different. The extended monsoon has caused losses to farmers during the Kharif season and many farmers in the state even complained of DAP shortage. So, several farmers have sown less compared to the previous years,” said Sagar Rabari, an AAP leader and founder of Khedut Ekta Manch, a farmers’ body. 

“Due to the changing climate, unseasonal rainfall during winters has become a regular feature. This deters farmers from taking up climate-sensitive crops like cumin, Isagbol and fennel,” Rabari added. 

However, Gujarat government officials deny any DAP shortage. “There is no shortage. It can happen that a few centres saw a temporary shortfall, but the same was immediately addressed. In fact, compared to last year 11,000 tonnes more of fertilisers have been sold this year in Gujarat,” Solanki from the agriculture department said. 

Official sowing figures released by the Gujarat government on Monday show that the farmers in Gujarat have sown over 4.85 lakh hectares of irrigated and unirrigated wheat, which is only 36 per cent of the average area. Compared to the season’s average, potato sowing has reached 87 per cent of the average area sown annually in the state. This year farmers have already sown 1.14 hectares of potato. Gram and mustard are among the other preferred crops, with gram sown on over 3.87 lakh hectares, while mustard has been covered on 1.8 lakh hectares in the state. 

While spices such as cumin have been sown over 55 per cent of the 3.81 lakh hectares covered annually, this year the sowing of fennel and Isagbol has touched just a quarter of their average sowing areas 73,000 and 19,000 hectares, respectively.

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