India’s kharif sowing deficit dips below 2% as overall coverage rises to 88% of normal
India’s kharif sowing reached 967.92 lakh hectares by August 7, covering 87.6% of the normal area and narrowing the year-on-year deficit to 1.8%. Farmers planted 74 lakh hectares during August 1–7, while monsoon rainfall remained 12% below normal, supporting prospects for further sowing.
The area under sowing of all kharif crops has reached near 88 per cent of the season’s normal area while deficit from the year-ago level has narrowed to less than 2 per cent as of August 7. The South-West Monsoon rainfall deficit since June 1 currently stands at 88 per cent of normal, potentially increasing the prospects of further increase in the sowing area before the planting window closes by the end of this month.
Farmers have planted kharif crops on nearly 74 lakh hectares (lh) during August 1-7 against 65.17 lh a year ago. The higher sowing in the past week has helped the country to further narrow the overall deficit. It was nearly 3 per cent until July 31.
The sowing area in on-going kharif season has reached 967.92 lh as of August 7 compared with 985.89 lh in the year-ago period, down by 1.8 per cent, the Agriculture Ministry said in its weekly update on Monday. The current coverage is 87.6 per cent of the season’s normal area of 1104.46 lh.
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Source : The Hindu Businessline
