Kharif crops sowing trail behind due to poor monsoon

NEW DELHI: Due to the poor monsoon in large parts of India, the sowing of rice, coarse cereals, pulses, oilseeds and cotton are trailing in the present Kharif summer season.

As per the recent data of Agriculture Ministry, sown area of rice has slipped by 8.71% to 19.1 million hectare till yesterday as compared to 20.93 million hectare during the corresponding period last season.

Moreover, the coverage of area under coarse cereals such as bajra, ragi and jowar has gone down by 23% to 11.74 million hectare till now as compared to 15.18 million hectare during the same period last year.

The area sown to most kharif crops is down due to the poor monsoon rain across Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.

Likewise, the sowing area under pulses has slipped to 6.29 million hectare as compared to 7.63 million hectare, oilseeds acreage has gone down to 13.83 million hectare as compared to 13.98 million hectare during the same period last year.