Production area of Kharif crops increased to around 905 lakh hectares
02-Aug-2024 08:01 PM
New Delhi. With the help of good rains of South-West monsoon, the total production area of Kharif crops in India has increased to 904.60 lakh hectares till August 2 this year,
which is 25.38 lakh hectares more than the sowing area of 879.22 lakh hectares during the same period last year.
During this period, the production area of paddy jumped from 263.01 lakh hectares to 276.91 lakh hectares,
the sowing area of pulses increased from 99.71 lakh hectares to 110.61 lakh hectares, the area of coarse cereals (including Shri Anna) improved from 160.38 lakh hectares to 165.59 lakh hectares and the area of oilseeds increased from 174.53 lakh hectares to 179.69 lakh hectares.
In the category of cash or commercial crops, the area under sugarcane production increased by 57 thousand hectares from 57.11 lakh hectares to 57.68 lakh hectares,
but the area under cotton cultivation declined from 118.19 lakh hectares to 108.43 lakh hectares. It appears that sugarcane cultivation has come to an end as the area under sugarcane has remained stuck at this level for the last three weeks.
The area under cotton is declining as expected as its area is reported to have decreased in states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab.
As far as paddy is concerned, its production area was below last year till last week, but now it has gone ahead.
In fact, during the current week, due to good monsoon rains in some important producing areas of the country,
farmers got an opportunity to increase the area under paddy cultivation. Sowing of this most important food grain of the Kharif season will continue in August.
In the category of pulses and oilseeds, the production area of pigeon pea, green gram, soybean and groundnut is ahead while the area of black gram,
moth, sesame and castor is lagging behind. Among coarse cereals, the sowing area of millet has been decreasing since the beginning while a good increase is being seen in the area of maize.