New Delhi:
The Narendra Modi government's plans to rein in prices of food essentials is likely to be hit by a weak monsoon, which has had an adverse impact on the sowing of important kharif crops such as rices and pulses across the country.
The latest data compiled by the Union agriculture ministry on kharif sowing has confirmed fears that a less-than-normal monsoon may hit overall food production. There is, the data shows, a decline in sowing of all important kharif crops when compared with the average of last five years, except in the case of sugarcane. The decline is also visible in oil seeds like soyabean, groundnut, sunflower, sesamum, nigerseed and castorseed. Cotton and jute cultivation, too, have taken a hit.
The situation, however, may improve if the monsoon gathers momentum in the remaining part of the month, agriculture ministry sources say. Kharif crops are sown till the end of July.
According to the data accessed by NDTV, as on July 11, the sowing of kharif crops had covered 256.61 hectares of land, considerably less than the area sown on an average in the last five years.
In the last five years, farmers had, on an average, planted crops in 395.77 lakh hectares of land during the corresponding period.
The cultivation of paddy, or rice, the main kharif crop, is critically dependent on a bountiful of rains. It, not surprisingly, was hampered by poor rains. The area sown till July 11 across the country was 86.40 lakh hectares. In any given year with a normal monsoon, the area sown by paddy is, on an average, 107.67 lakh hectares.
The country has to import pulses to meet the requirements of its population. The trend of sowing various kinds of pulses has not been very encouraging. Pulses could only be sown in 13.46 lakh hectares till July 11, whereas it used to touch 24.59 lakh hectares during a year with good monsoon.