After two consecutive weeks of lacklustre monsoon, rainfall activity revived last week, lifiting the farming community?s spirits.
However, even as the agriculture ministry data indicate a higher kharif paddy acreage in comparison to last year, the lower sowing of pulses is expected to raise questions over the government quest to achieve self-sufficiency in pulses production over the next five years.
The latest data released by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) say: After two consecutive weeks of weak monsoon conditions, it was active during August 4-10 and the all-India rainfall was 14% above the long period average (LPA).
?It is only the second week of this monsoon season when east and northeast India received above-normal rainfall of 34% more than the LPA,? said the weather department statement.
For the country as a whole, cumulative rainfall during June 1-August 10 has been 4% below the LPA. The average rainfall during the current monsoon had been at 522.1 mm against the normal of 543.9 mm. ?In area-wise distribution, 83% area of the country received excess or normal rainfall. The remaining 17% area received deficient or scanty rainfall,? said IMD.
As many as 398 out of 602 districts of the country have received normal to excess rainfall.
According to the agriculture ministry data, rice has been sown in 29.85 million hectare till now. It is 2.39 million hectare more than last year?s acreage during the same period. Higher area coverage has been reported from West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Similarly, oilseeds have been sown in 16.58 million hectare. Compared to last year, the area is higher by 6.30 lakh hectare. ?The rainfall during the second fortnight of July has revived the sowing of rain-fed crops and also already sown crops, which were reported to be under moisture stress,? the agriculture ministry stated in a statement.
However, after an all-time high of more than 18 million tonne last year, the production of pulses is expected to decline this year due to lower acreage in states such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
The acreage has increased in Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The kharif pulses acreage has declined by about 1.11 million hectare to about 8.44 million hectare this season from about 9.57 million hectare achieved during same period last year.
This decline in pulses acreage is expected put a hurdle on the government?s target of achieving self-sufficiency in cereals over the next few years. The country imports about 2-3 million tonne cereals from Myanmar, Africa and Canada. However, the silver lining is that coarse cereals have been sown in 17.49 million hectare. Compared to last year, higher area coverage has been reported from Madhya Pradesh, Uttrakhand and Jharkhand. Cotton has been sown in 11.48 million hectare as against 10.66 million hectare last year.
?Widespread rain or thundershowers would occur over northwest India during the week with increased intensity during the second half. Fairly widespread rainfall would occur along the west coast, east India and northeast India during many days of the week,? IMD?s forecast for the next week stated.