Amid the Indian Meteorological Department’s (IMD) forecast of weak monsoon this year, the <g data-gr-id="41">kharif</g> crop sowing area is picking up week after week. The rise in <g data-gr-id="42">kharif</g> crops sowing area after a few week of monsoon arrival indicates that the production of crops set to remain as per the estimation, which was hit by 3 <g data-gr-id="43">per cent</g> in the last year. However, traders see the figures as an alarm for hoarders to release their procured stock of pulses.
According to the latest data, released by Ministry of Agriculture, the total <g data-gr-id="46">kharif</g> crop sown area has
reached 306.06 lakh <g data-gr-id="47">heactare</g>, which is up by 111.81 lakh hectare in comparison to the last year’s sowing area. The recent crops sowing area figures show a hoping increase of 57.6 <g data-gr-id="48">per cent</g> over the same time of the last year.
It is reported that rice has been <g data-gr-id="49">sown</g>/transplanted in 54.03 lakh hectares, indicating a marginal rise from 53.56 lakh hectares covered same time a year ago, while the pulses crop area have jumped to 22.61 lakh hectares from 9.72 lakh hectares same time a year ago. The coarse cereals crop area have also zoomed to 43.72 lakh hectares from 28.92 lakh hectares covered same time a year ago. Oilseeds crop sowing has shot up to 74.17 lakh hectares compared with the coverage of 14.73 lakh hectares a year ago.
The cotton sown area has also jumped to 60.16 lakh hectares from 35.42 lakh hectares a year ago. However, the area under sugarcane at 43.68 lakh hectares and jute & <g data-gr-id="36">mesta</g> at 7.69 lakh hectares was lower compared with 43.92 lakh hectares and 7.98 lakh hectares a year ago.
A whopping rise in the sowing coverage of pulses may help in stabilising the skyrocketing prices of pulses. According to grain merchants, the rise in sowing area clearly indicates that yield is going to be better than the previous year provided with the fact that there would be natural calamity such as untimely rainfall, hailstorm, etc. “We are very much hopeful that the rise in sowing area will help in increasing the production volume of pulses, which will help in controlling the prices of pulses,” said Ramesh Chandra Lahoti, who heads Grain Merchants’ Association of Bengaluru.
Cautioning the hoarders, Lahoti said, “The latest sowing area report must shake up hoarders who have procured their stock in port-connected cities soon after IMD predicted weak monsoon. Now they may release their stock and if happens, the prices of pulses will automatically come down.”
Notably, the country had received 12 per cent <g data-gr-id="40">less</g> rains in the last, which hit production of grains, cotton and oilseeds. According to the government’s estimate, total foodgrains production has declined to 251.12 million tonnes in the 2014-15 crop year (July-June) from a record production of 265.04 million tonnes in the previous year. Due to poor monsoon, agriculture growth stood at 0.2 <g data-gr-id="38">per cent</g> in the 2014-15 fiscal.