Kharif sowing has picked momentum in most parts of the country with improvement in rainfall in the last couple of weeks. Though planting of paddy is still lagging last year's corresponding position, that of cotton and some pulses, notably arhar (tur or pigeon pea) and urad, has covered relatively larger ground.
Significantly, replenishment of water reservoirs, most of which were down to precariously low levels, has begun with total water storage in 81 major reservoirs rising by nearly 30 per cent in the week ended July 16.
The overall deficiency in the cumulative monsoon rainfall since the beginning of the season has shrunk from about 46 per cent in the end of June to 24 per cent by July 16.
The key agricultural belt of north-western India is still facing about 44 per cent rainfall deficiency, though there have been some welcome showers throughout the region in the past couple of weeks. The north-eastern region is also facing about 40 per cent rain deficieny.
According to the India Meteorological Department, there was 'good improvement' in the overall rainfall in the second week of July when 70 mm rainfall was recorded throughout the country, against the normal 66.1 mm.
This week witnessed improvement in the rainfall situation in 19 meteorological sub-divisions; no large change in 10 sub-divisions; and deterioration in 7 sub-divisions, mainly in the north-east.
The kharif sowing has progressed well in July. The area seeded with paddy has gone up from mere 38 lakh hectares on July 3 to 114.6 lakh hectares on July 17.
However, this is still about 30 lakh hectares short of 145.2 lakh hectares planted till this date last year. Paddy planting in Punjab, which contributes the maximum rice to the central grain pool, is quite satisfactory.
According to Dr G S Bains, head of the agricultural meteorology department of the Punjab Agricultural University, rain in the past couple of weeks has benefited paddy and other crops. Punjab had received near-normal rainfall in the second week of July and above-normal in the current week – 100.8 mm till yesterday, against normal 53.2 mm.
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research has advised farmers who have been unable to transplant paddy by July 20 to go for shorter duration crop varieties which can bear flowers by October.
Alternatively, they can resort to direct planting of sprouted seeds to reduce the crop-growing duration by 1-2 weeks. In case of inordinate delay, the farmers should switch over to shorter duration crops of pulses, oilseeds and coarse cereals, it has said.
However, sowing of most other crops is in full swing. Cotton has been planted over nearly 69 lakh hectares, as against 620,0,000 hectares till July 17 last year. Sowing of coarse cereals, including maize, jowar and bajra, is also apace.
Encouraged by the high prices of pulses, farmers have increased the area under these crops. Arhar has already been sown on 16,24,000 hectares this year, as against 12,54,000 hectares till the same period last year. Similar is the case of urad, which has been seeded over 8,8,000 hectares, as against last year's 8.2 lakh hectares.
Oilseed crops, including soybean and groundnut, have been planted over 107 lakh hectares, marginally short of 110 lakh hectares covered till July 17 last year. Those farmers who fail to sow soybean by the first week of July due to late rain have been advised to grow shorter duration varieties such as JS 93-05, JS 95-60, NRC 7 or MAUS 47. They have also been suggested to reduce the space between rows of plants to 30 cms to accommodate more plants per hectare.
The total water stock in the 81 reservoirs regularly monitored by the Central Water Commission had risen to 20.73 billion cubic metres (BCM) on July 16, up 30 per cent from 16 BCM on July 9. However, this level is still about half of 42.8 BCM stored in the dams on this date last year. The re-filling of reservoirs is likely to facilitate improvement in hydel power generation, which had dropped by over 9 per cent in June.
