The area coverage under paddy has reached at 69.3 lh from 64.52 lh a year ago
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PTI
On the back of about 180 lakh hectares (lh) area coverage, with maximum 60 lh under oilseeds, witnessed in a week (June 28-July 4), the overall sowing under all kharif crops has been completed in 40 per cent of 1,097 lh normal area until last Friday, the official data released on Monday showed. As the rainfall has been good so far, the pace of sowing may further rise.
According to Agriculture Ministry’s data, as much as 437.43 lh have been planted under different crops in the on-going kharif season until July 4, up11.1 per cent from 393.77 lh year-ago. The area coverage under arhar, maize, ragi, other small millets, niger, castor, jute and mesta is lower from last year whereas all other crops have shown a higher acreage.
The area coverage under kharif season’s main cereal paddy has reached at 69.3 lh from 64.52 lh a year ago, which is 7.4 per cent higher while that of pulses acreage has jumped 35.2 per cent to 42.57 lh from 31.48 lh.
Pulses category
In the pulses category, urad (black matpe) acreage reached 5.27 from 5.02 lh and moong (green gram) at 16.58 lh from 6.73 lh. But, arhar (pigeon peas) area continues to trail to reach at 16.47 lh against 18.52 lh year-ago, down by 11.1 per cent.
Oilseeds area, which was trailing initially, has improved and reached at 108.21 lh from 94.9 lh, up 14 per cent. Soyabean acreage has reached 79.04 lh against 75.46 lh year-ago and groundnut reached 26.74 lh against 17.73 lh. Sunflower area is also a tad higher at 0.46 lh against 0.45 lh.
The coverage of nutri/coarse cereals has reached at 77.18 lh from 63.79 lh, up by 21 per cent, in which maize area is down by 2.1 per cent at 39.35 lh from 40.21 lh, jowar (sorghum) at 5.54 lh from 4.64 lh while that of bajra (millet) to 30.82 lh from 16.78 lh.
Cotton acreage marginally higher at 79.54 lh from 78.58 lh, but the other fibre crops jute and mesta coverage is down by 3 per cent at 5.47 lh from 5.62 lh, data show.
There is no update on sugarcane planting from last week and it remained at 55.16 lh against 54.88 lh year-ago. There may be a revision in the current data of sugarcane at end of the season as last year’s final estimate was 53.58 lh, lower than what the year-ago number is showing.
The India Meteorological Department data showed that in the first week of this month (July 1-7), the monsoon rainfall was 31 per cent higher at 74 mm against normal of 56.3 mm for the period, taking the season’s total rainfall in the country to 254 mm since June 1, which is 15 per cent above normal.
Published on July 7, 2025