Paddy & two other crop sowing data are no longer made available by govt.
Due to the lack of rain in key growing states during the current Kharif season, there are worries about paddy sowing. Because of this, the Union Agriculture Ministry has stopped giving weekly updates on how much land has been sown to paddy.
Not only has there been no weekly sowing update for paddy, but there has also been no update for cotton and sugarcane for two weeks in a row.
When asked why they wouldn’t release the data for the three crops, ministry officials on Friday couldn’t come up with a good reason. Also Read | Fast-advancing monsoon will restore paddy coverage – Agri minister.
The main crop during Kharif (summer) is paddy, and more than 80% of the country’s rice is grown during this time.
When the Southwest monsoon starts in June, farmers start planting Kharif crops like rice. The ministry usually puts out the sowing information for all Kharif crops on Friday after sowing begins.
The ministry only has data on paddy planting through July 17 for this Kharif season. As of July 17, the amount of land used to grow rice in all of India was 128.50 lakh hectares, which is 17.4% less than the same time last year, when it was 155.53 lakh hectares.
Except for rice, cotton, and sugarcane, the ministry has released a sowing update for pulses, oilseeds, coarse cereals, jute/mesta, and sugarcane. The latest information about these crops is from July 29 of this Kharif season.
From July 29 of last year to July 29 of this year, slightly more land was used to grow pulses, from 103.23 lakh hectares to 106.18 lakh hectares.
Oilseeds were planted on 164.34 lakh hectares, up from 163.03 lakh hectares, and coarse cereals were planted on 142.21 lakh hectares, up from 135.30 lakh hectares during the same time.
But the area under jute/mesta was slightly behind at 6.91 lakh hectares as of July 29, compared to 7.01 lakh hectares at the same time last year.
The total area of all Kharif crops except rice, cotton, and sugarcane was 2.70 percent higher at 419.64 lakh hectares on July 29 than it was during the same time last year.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) thinks the Southwest monsoon will be normal this year. Between June 1 and July 27, monsoon rains were 10% higher across the country as a whole, but east and northeast India had a 15% deficit during that time.
IMD data shows that there were not enough rains in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Mizoram, and Manipur. Also Read | Telangana announced to farmers not to engage in paddy cultivation.
India is the number one exporter of rice and the second largest producer of rice in the world.
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