India’s summer crop planting down nearly 9% at 41 million hectares

15 Jul 2019 Evaluate

The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare has said farmers planted 41.3 million hectares with summer crops, down 8.6 per cent year-on-year after delayed monsoon. However, the gap in sowing narrowed from the previous week as monsoon rains picked up. Farmers start planting their summer-sown crops from June 1 when monsoon rains are expected to reach India, where nearly half of farmlands lack irrigation. Planting usually continues until the end of July.

The ministry highlighted that planting of rice, the key summer crop, was at 9.8 million hectares as of July 10 versus 11 million hectares in the previous year. Corn planting was at 4.1 million hectares. The area planted with cotton was also unchanged at 7.8 million hectares. Sowing of soybean was at 5.2 million hectares, down from 6.4 million hectares the previous year. Other crop plantings such as pulses and sugar cane were also down versus last year.

The figures are provisional and subject to revision as updates arrive with the progress of the June-September monsoon season. Besides, according to the government data, water levels in India's main reservoirs were at 22% of their storage capacity against 23% a year earlier. The last 10 years' average stood at 23%.

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