Rains bail out Rajasthan kharif crops

MP Jain

Jaipur: Contrary to earlier fears that the kharif crops in Rajasthan will fail this year, things have now brightened up following rains. ``The position is now much improved compared to a fortnight back,'' said an official of the agriculture department. Good rains have prompted the farmers to undertake extensive sowings and latest reports received the by the department say that sowings have covered 80 lakh hectares out of the targeted 128.90 lakh hectares. In the western region, where the rains have been bountiful, the sowings have covered large areas.

The target is now within reach as the farmers have shown renewed interest to cover the maximum area under the kharif foodgrains. Even in the case of oilseeds such as soyabean and groundnut the position is stated to be much under control. Soyabean has covered vast areas in the Kotah region replacing the traditional jowar. This is due to the fact that the farmers get a good return on the soyabean cultivation. Even the government is keen on the replacement ofjoway by soyabean for known reasons. Last year the kharif foodgrains produced had touched the figure of 341.25 lakh tonnes and the oilseeds had been put at 13.40 lakh tonnes. This year the position will be much better, officials feel. The total production of kharif foodgrains may be around 42.25 lakh tonnes.

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