Kharif crop sowing to be normal this year: Centre

Asharp improvement in the southwest monsoon over the past few weeks has narrowed the shortfall in kharif acreage compared to last year. Rice cultivation, however, has remained slow in major eastern states such West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Odisha.

Senior officials in the agriculture ministry said in the coming weeks, paddy sowing will pick pace and cover the gap. “We are confident that by the time kharif sowing ends, about 106 million hectares will be under crops,” said an official. “This is almost the same as the normal area under kharif cultivation in the past five years.” He added according to discussions with the states, farmers in several eastern ones started sowing paddy late this year.

Data furnished by the ministry showed that till August 8, paddy has been sown in about

26.52 million hectares, which is 12.81 per cent less than the area covered during the same period last year and 13.21 per cent less than the average area covered during the same period

in past five years.

Overall, total kharif crops so far have been sown in around 86.95 million hectares, which is 5.35 per cent lower than the same period last year and 3.47 per cent less than the average area covered during the same period in past five years.

“Though most crops are in the growing stage and it is difficult to predict the final harvest now, even if we get average yields, that should be a good harvest this kharif season,” the official said. The slowdown in sowing is mainly due to the delayed onset of monsoon and its slow progress in June. However, since the middle of July, the rains have picked pace. On August 8, it was barely 1 per cent less than normal.