Farmers Ramp Up Rice, Pulse, Sugarcane Sowing as IMD Predicts Monsoon Expansion Across More Regions
As of June 13, the area under kharif crops in India rose 13.3% year-on-year to 453,000 hectares, driven by revived monsoon rains. Pulses were planted on 307,000 hectares (up 18%), and sugarcane on 5.51 million hectares. The monsoon is advancing further across key regions. The government also raised MSPs for 14 kharif crops to support farmers and boost output.
The area coverage under kharif crops has increased 13.3% from a year earlier to 453,000 hectares as of June 13, according to Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
Climbing 18% from a year earlier, the farmers have planted pulses on 307,000 hectares of farmland, reported Bloomberg. Sugar cane planting has increased to 5.51 million hectares, up from 5.49 million hectares, it said.
Monsoon to Advance Further
Southwest monsoon are set to advance over remaining parts of western, central, east and northwest India during the next two days, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) stated in its latest update.
“Conditions are favourable for further advance of southwest monsoon over remaining parts of North Arabian Sea and Gujarat, some parts of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, remaining parts of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar and some parts East Uttar Pradesh during next 2 days,” IMD said.
Very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places is likely over Gujarat, coastal and south interior Karnataka, north Konkan and north Kerala on 17 June and Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha on 17-18 June, according to the met department.
Heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected to continue over Northeast India during the next five days with extreme rainfall over Meghalaya on 18-19 June.
Minimum Support Prices (MSP)
On May 28, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved an increase in MSP in the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for 14 kharif crops for the 2025-26 marketing season. This decision aims to guarantee fair prices to farmers and encourage increased production.
Some notable increases have been done in kharif crops such as nigerseed (increased by Rs 820 per quintal), ragi (increased by Rs 596 per quintal), cotton (increased by Rs 589 per quintal) and sesamum (increased by Rs 579 per quintal).
The increase in MSP for kharif crops is in line with the Union Budget 2018-19 announcement of fixing MSP at a minimum of 1.5 times the all-India weighted average cost of production. The expected margin to farmers over their cost of production are estimated to be highest in case of bajra at 63%, maize and tur at 59% each, and urad at 53%. For other crops, the expected margin remains at 50%.
To Read more about Sugar Industry continue reading Agriinsite.com
Source : Outlook Planet / Business
