Agriculture Ministry’s latest Crop Weather Watch Report

According to the Agriculture Ministry’s latest Crop Weather Watch Report, released here on Monday, farmers had, as on last Thursday, sown only 228.19 lakh hectares (lh) under paddy as compared to 285.94 lakh hectares during the same period of the 2008-09 kharif season.

The shortfall of nearly 58 lakh hectares was mainly due to progressive acreages lagging behind in Uttar Pradesh (32.92 lh versus 57.92 lh), Bihar (14.83 lh versus 28.44 lakh hectares), West Bengal (20.71 lh versus 30.44 lh), Jharkhand (2.56 lh versus 7.07 lh) and Andhra Pradesh (7.23 lh versus 9.96 lh).

Chhattisgarh (30.19 lh versus 32.68 lh), Orissa (23.88 lh versus 24.47 lh), Punjab (27.05 lh versus 27.35 lh), Assam (15.76 lh versus 16.08 lh) and Haryana (10.88 lh versus 12.10 lh) have also reported marginal area declines, while Madhya Pradesh (10.23 lh versus 10.15 lh), Maharashtra (9.54 lh versus 6.67 lh), Gujarat (5.39 lh versus 4.96 lh) and Karnataka (4.76 lh versus 4.33 lh) have shown higher acreages.

The Agriculture Ministry is, however, hopeful of regaining some lost ground. Recent good rains in Orissa and West Bengal would lead to "100 per cent normal area coverage in both States", while even in eastern UP and Bihar, "planting will continue up to August end", the Weather Watch Report has claimed.

But even if the overall area shortfall is contained within limits, the impact of the severe moisture stress on crop yields is something that cannot be underestimated. Moreover, a significant paddy area upwards of 5 lh in the irrigated Punjab-Haryana-Western Uttar Pradesh belt has shifted this time in favour of low-yielding but high-value-fetching basmati varieties.

All this may eventually be reflected in the total kharif rice production, which, after last year’s record 84.58 million tonnes (mt), could end up around 20 mt lower, it is feared.

The other crop to have suffered heavily is groundnut, with farmers managing to sow only 35.72 lh, against last year’s corresponding coverage of 45.54 lh. Much of this is courtesy Andhra Pradesh, which has seen a dip in acreage, from 12.46 lh to 4.57 lh. Gujarat (17.64 lh to 16.55 lh), Karnataka (4.83 lh to 4.53 lh) and Rajasthan (3.24 lh to 3.13 lh) have also registered small shortfalls, even as Maharashtra expanded its cultivation area from 1.94 lh to 2.49 lh.

Most other crops – from coarse cereals to pulses and cotton – have witnessed increased sowing activity this time, notwithstanding extended dry spells in three-fourths of the country.

Three crops to have shown notable acreage increases are cotton (from 79.47 lh to 92.92 lh), maize (60.47 lh to 65.02 lh) and soyabean (91.31 lh to 93.68 lh).

Cotton area has gone up appreciably in Maharashtra (from 24.57 lh to 32.42 lh) and Gujarat (21.72 lh to 24.74 lh), and also in Andhra Pradesh (9.98 lh to 10.26 lh), Madhya Pradesh (6.18 lh to 6.44 lh), Punjab (5.27 lh to 5.36 lh), Haryana (4.55 lh to 5.20 lh), Rajasthan (3.55 lh to 3.65 lh) and Karnataka (1.76 lh to 2.62 lh).

In maize, Karnataka (6.29 lh to 10 lh), Maharashtra (3.01 lh to 6.21 lh) and Gujarat (3.63 lh to 4.20 lh) have reported higher coverage, while declines have been reported in Rajasthan (10.38 lh to 10.14 lh), Madhya Pradesh (8.41 lh to 8.30 lh), Uttar Pradesh (8.64 lh to 7.51 lh) and Andhra Pradesh (3.75 lh to 3.65 lh).

The increase in soyabean area has come largely from Maharashtra (26.09 lh to 29.24 lh), Karnataka (1.87 lh to 2.31 lh), Andhra Pradesh (1.45 lh to 1.81 lh) and Chhattisgarh (1.21 lh to 1.27 lh), which have counterbalanced drops in Madhya Pradesh (51.42 lh to 51.02 lh) and Rajasthan (8.48 lh to 7.05 lh).