Weak rains drag Kharif acreage; area under oilseeds, cotton down

The weakening of monsoon rainfall in recent weeks across several parts of the country has slowed down the pace of kharif plantings.

After the cotton area slid over the last month from last year’s sowing figures, oilseeds coverage has also declined vis-à-vis the corresponding 2014-15 acreage for the first time this week, according to the latest data released by the Agriculture Ministry on Friday.

Overall acreage under Kharif crops, such as rice, soyabean, cotton and a variety of pulses, stands at 938.4 lakh hectares (lh), around 1 per cent higher than at the same time last year when 929.48 lh had been covered.

Around 89 per cent of planting for the season has been completed, serviced by the South-West monsoon which, as on Friday, was estimated to have provided 9 per cent deficit rainfall, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Each major region is estimated to have received sub-normal rainfall, says IMD’s daily monsoon report. The situation is most acute in the South Peninsula (20 per cent deficiency) and the Central region (11 per cent). Out of 36 sub-divisions, 13 have recorded deficient rainfall. Marathwada, North interior Karnataka, Central Maharashtra, East and West Uttar Pradesh and Kerala are the most stressed in terms of poor precipitation.

Water levels in 91 important reservoirs in the country, as of August 20, stood at 91.04 billion cubic metres (bcm), about 58 per cent of the total capacity of 157.79 bcm, according to the Central Water Commission.

The figure is 88 per cent of the storage during the corresponding period last year and 92 per cent of the 10-year average.

Oilseeds acreage has slipped mainly on lower coverage by groundnut in Karnataka and castor in Gujarat, which has slipped by nearly 5 per cent and 32 per cent, respectively.

Sesamum acreage is up nearly 7 per cent, led by higher sowing in Uttar Pradesh (UP).

Area under soyabean, the most widely cultivated Kharif oilseed, stands at 112.75 lh, around 3 per cent higher than during the same period last year.

The marginally higher acreage is largely on account of increased sowing of pulses in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and UP.

While area under arhar (tur) is up only marginally by 0.54 per cent, sowing of urad and moong has continued to surpass 2014-15 figures by 14 per cent and nearly 18 per cent.

Higher urad sowing has been recorded in Madhya Pradesh and UP, where acreages stand at 9.19 lh and 6.52 lh, respectively, about 7.5 per cent and 27 per cent higher than at the same time last year.

Increased area under moong has been reported in Rajasthan (10.5 lh) and Maharashtra (3.51 lh). The figures are higher by 20 per cent and 38.2 per cent in the respective States.

Sowing of coarse cereals, such as jowar and bajra, are up 3.3 per cent over last year, led by more area brought under these crops in Rajasthan, Haryana and Maharashtra.

Cotton area slipped for the fifth straight week and stands at 110.23 lh, more than 7 per cent lower than at the same time in 2014-15 with Gujarat and Maharashtra – the two largest growing States – reporting decreased sowing.

Area under rice, the main Kharif foodgrain, has touched 333.65 lh, marginally higher than the corresponding figure from last year, while cane acreage is also up 3.5 per cent.

Jute and mesta coverage continued to stagnate at 7.8 lh, around 4 per cent lower than last year.