The area under kharif planting season ended with a drop of 1.90% over last year’s figure. The latest data from the agriculture ministry showed that kharif crop planting has covered 1,052.38 lakh hectare from June up to September 28, from 1,072.79 lakh hectare a year earlier. According to the data, oilseeds and sugarcane saw the increase while rice, pulses, coarse cereals and cotton saw the decline.
The data showed that rice planting saw a 2.37% decrease over the previous year at 384.19 lakh hectare. In coarse cereals the planting fell by 5.85% to 175.35 lakh hectare. Major cereals from jowar to bajra saw the dip, while maize acreage remained similar to the previous year.
The area of pulse cultivation too dropped 3.76% to 135.52 lakh hectare. Major dip was seen in uradbean. Area under tur and moon remained higher than the previous year. Area under cotton was 1.53% lower at 122.38 lakh hectare.
Planting of oilseeds, chiefly soyabean, sunflower and castor increased while groundnut, sesamum and niger fell, taking total planting from the previous year to 1.56% increase at 175.92 lakh hectare. Sugarcane was planted on 51.59 lakh hectare, up 9.09% from a year earlier.