Kharif crop sowing surges with favorable monsoon

Kharif crop sowing in India is progressing well, aided by surplus monsoon rains across most regions, with a slight increase compared to last year. As of now, 97.98 million hectares have been sown, covering 90% of the normal sown area. Key crops like paddy, pulses, oilseeds, and sugarcane have shown a 1.3% year-on-year increase in sown areas.

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Due to abundant monsoon rains across much of the country, Kharif crop sowing is advancing smoothly and is marginally ahead of last year’s progress.

By Monday, the combined sown area of key crops like paddy, pulses, oilseeds, and sugarcane reached 97.98 million hectares (MH), which is 1.3% higher compared to the previous year, covering 90% of the normal sown area.

Officials expect sowing activities to continue until mid-September, with paddy sowing in regions like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Bihar gaining momentum due to recent adequate rainfall in eastern regions. The overall rainfall this season has been 6.3% above the benchmark long period average, with 71% of districts receiving rainfall in the ‘large excess’ to ‘normal’ range. However, states like Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland, Manipur, and Mizoram remain rain-deficient.

The India Meteorological Department predicts ‘above normal’ rainfall for August-September 2024, which is expected to benefit kharif crops. Nonetheless, consulting firm ICRA remains cautious about the potential impact of heavy rainfall and flooding in some states, which could harm standing crops and affect perishable prices during this period.

As of Monday, the area under paddy cultivation stood at 33.17 MH, up 4.2% from the previous year. Pulses and oilseeds also saw an increase in sown area due to normal to above-normal monsoon rains in key growing states. The higher output in these crops is expected to reduce the country’s dependence on imports, particularly for edible oils. Meanwhile, sugarcane sowing has been completed with a total area of 5.76 MH, and cotton area has decreased by 8.8% to 11.04 MH. The agriculture ministry has set a target of record food grains production of 340 million tonnes (MT) for the 2024-25 crop year, 3.4% higher than the previous year.