SOWING OF MAJOR KHARIF CROPS
The rainfall so far
has adequately covered most parts of the country. A review by
the Crop Weather Watch Group of the Agriculture Ministry shows
that this has facilitated normal to good sowing of major kharif
crops. The area progression reported on 28th July this
year as compared to the corresponding period last year is summarized
in the table below:-
(area in lakh ha.)
|
Crop
|
Area sown reported
|
% of normal area covered
|
| |
Normal area
|
This year
|
last year
|
This year
|
Last year
|
|
Rice
|
406
|
124
|
115
|
30.5
|
28.3
|
|
Bajra
|
94
|
73
|
47
|
77.7
|
50.0
|
|
Kharif Jowar
|
47
|
35
|
30
|
74.5
|
63.8
|
|
Kharif Maize
|
59
|
58
|
49
|
98.3
|
83.1
|
|
Kharif Coarse Cereals
|
231
|
174
|
136
|
75.3
|
58.9
|
|
Kharif Groundnut
|
57
|
36
|
34
|
63.2
|
59.6
|
|
Soyabean
|
63
|
62
|
49
|
98.4
|
77.8
|
|
Total Kharif Oilseeds
|
154
|
116
|
96
|
75.3
|
62.3
|
|
Tur
|
35
|
25
|
22
|
71.4
|
62.9
|
|
Total Kharif Pulses
|
104
|
78
|
44
|
75.0
|
42.3
|
|
Cotton
|
88
|
56
|
44
|
63.6
|
50.0
|
|
Jute
|
9
|
8
|
8
|
88.1
|
90.0
|
|
Sugarcane
|
43
|
42
|
43
|
97.7
|
100.0
|
With the help of
normal to excess rains in most parts of the country, recharging
of reservoirs is continuing. For the week ending 25th
of this month, water in 70 major reservoirs went up to 30.18 billion
cubic meters(BCM), an increase of 6% over the previous week’s
level. The Central Water Commission monitors the live storage
of 71 important reservoirs having the Full Reservoir Level (FRL)
of 313.28 BCM which is about 79% of the total reservoir capacity
in the country. The present total water storage in these reservoirs
is about 23% of the FRL. This is 126% of last year’s level and
62% of last 10 years’ average.
At present, the country
remains free from any gregarious locust activity. Ecological conditions
are turning conducive for locust breeding in the Scheduled Desert
Area due to wide spread monsoon rains in parts of Barmer, Jaisalmer,
Jodhpur, Sriganganagar, Churu, Bhuj and Deesa districts of Rajasthan
and Gujarat. Small scale breeding of solitary locust population
may occur during the coming months in the Scheduled Desert Area.
There is no report of shortage of any commonly used chemical pesticides
or biopoesticides in the country. The incidence of pest and diseases
remained below the economic threshold level generally for most
of the crops.
