Sowing of soybean during the kharif season has begun on a slightly sluggish note this year because of lull in monsoon over central India.

According to an official statement, soybean has been sown in around 8,11,000 hectare till date from June 1, down from 9,96,000 hectare during the same period last year. Although, sowing of this vital oilseed crop has been slightly sluggish to start with, many experts and agriculturists believe that sowing operations would pick up in central India as soon as monsoon becomes active.

?Soybean is a rain fed crop and initial soil moisture is vital for a good harvest, hence farmers are just waiting for monsoon to become more active before they take up their sowing operations,? a trader based in Indore said.

Meanwhile, the official data also showed that paddy sowing has been completed in around 3 million hectare since it began on June 1, 7% up from a year earlier.

Paddy is mostly grown in the eastern, central and northern India during the kharif season, planting for which starts around June and the harvest takes place around September.

India produces around 80 million tonne to 82 million tonne of rice during the kharif season, while the remaining 10 million to 14 million tonne is grown during the rabi sowing season, mostly in the southern states.

Apart from paddy, oilseeds like groundnut, soybean and cash crops like sugarcane, cotton and maize are also grown during the kharif season.

Among other oilseeds, a government statement said that groundnut has been sown in around 9,04,000 hectare from June 1 till now, sharply up from 5,06,000 hectare last year.

Cotton has been planted in around 1.51 million hectare since June 1, down from 1.54 million hectare a year earlier.

Sugarcane has been sown in around 4.10 million hectare, down from 4.75 million hectare a year-earlier.

Data also showed that pluses have been sown in around 5,17,000 hectare during June 1 to June 27, up from 4,01,000 hectare last year.

Experts said that sugarcane acreage might drop this year because of low price to farmers from millers due to fall in sugar prices.

Meanwhile, government officials believe that paddy sowing would be good this year because of the Rs 105 hike in minimum support price of paddy to Rs 850 per quintal.

The government estimates say that India?s rice production in the marketing year that ends September will reach an all-time high record of around 96 million tonne, up 3 million tonne from last year.