New Delhi: Sowing of Kharif crop in India has progressed significantly with farmers having planted crops on 1,104.63 lakh hectares so far, compared to 1,088.26 lakh hectares last year, marking a year-on-year increase of 1.5 per cent.
This is more than the average area under cultivation (or normal area) for the period 2018-19 to 2022-23. As for commodities, sowing of paddy, pulses, oilseeds, millets and sugarcane has increased year-on-year, while sowing of cotton and jute/mesta has been lower.
The data shows that in the pulses sector, apart from urad bean, crops such as arhar, moong, kulthi and moth bean have witnessed positive growth. India is a major consumer and producer of pulses, and supplements its domestic consumption with imports. The major pulses consumed in India are chana, masur, urad, kabuli chana and tur.
The government has been strongly promoting pulses cultivation. In the 2023 Kharif season, the total area under cultivation across the country was 1,107.15 lakh hectares. The normal Kharif area between 2018-19 and 2022-23 is 1,096 lakh hectares. India has three cropping seasons – Summer, Kharif and Rabi.
Kharif crops, which are sown during June and July and depend on monsoon rains, are harvested in October and November. Rabi crops, which are sown in October and November, are harvested from January onwards, depending on their maturity. Summer crops are grown between the Rabi and Kharif seasons. Traditionally, Indian agriculture, especially the Kharif season, is highly dependent on monsoon rains.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD), in its first long-range forecast, has predicted that the southwest monsoon (June-September) this year would be above normal. Skymet, a private forecaster, has also predicted a normal monsoon.
The IMD recently said that rainfall across the country during September 2024 is expected to be above normal, at 109 per cent of the long-period average. The above-normal monsoon rains, which have helped farmers sow more crops in this Kharif season, augur well for agriculture and are likely to improve the gross value added (GVA) of the sector, according to rating agency ICRA.
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