Rice, bajra, jowar and maize are the main kharif foodgrains sown in Rajasthan with bajra taking the lead position. Oilseeds include soyabean, groundnut, seasum and castor while the other crops are sugarcane, cotton and gowar.

In the last kharif season the production of cereals was 41.94 lakh tonnes and pulses accounted for 6.40 lakh tonnes. The production of oilseeds was of the order of 11.13 lakh tonnes with soyabean alone providing 6.30 lakh tonnes followed by 3.65 lakh tonnes of groundnut. The production of sugarcane last year was 11.59 lakh tonnes with gowar contributing 7.34 lakh tones and cotton 8.40 lakh bales as against the target of 14.25 lakh bales. An interesting feature of Rajasthan in regard to the foodgrains and oilseeds isthat while kharif covers roughly 65 per cent of the area sown, it contributes only 33 per cent of the total production. The bulk of production comes from the rabi crops largely due to the assured irrigation.

According to director of agriculture Purshottam Agarwal, the kharif had the potential and the department had taken all possible steps to step up the output. The kharif is largely dependent on the monsoon as may be seen from the fact that it produced only 10.72 lakh tonnes of the foodgrains during 1987-88 even though the area covered was 65.77 lakh hectares. The steep fall was due to the scarcity conditions that prevailed in Rajasthan during the year.

The best year was 1988-89 when the production of kharif foodgrains was 52.87 lakh tonnes.

"We are doing our best to increase the productivity of the kharif crops without adding to the area", says Agarwal. The Department has advised the farmers to do the first sowings (of kharif) by taking recourse to the irrigation facilities without waiting for therains. By doing so the kharif production could go up.

In Rajasthan the sowing of the cotton crop this year has been completed with the area being put at 5.38 lakh hectares. Last year the area was 4.19 lakh hectares. The increase in the area this year is due to the release of canal waters by the irrigation authorities. Agarwal says the cyclone that hit the western parts of the state last week had done good to the kharif crops. In the case of cotton crop the rains had been of much benefit, said the director.

He said there would be no shortage on requirement of seeds in the kharif season this year. The total requirement of seed was put at 1.35 lakh quintals and the availability was of 1.30 lakh quintals. No less than 5300 retail outlets have been opened.

The total requirement of urea is also put at 5.3 lakh quintals and there will be no shortage. The use of DAP had also picked up in the state, he said.