The country?s kharif sowing has not been adversely impacted because of deficit monsoon rains so far. This is because more than average rainfall witnessed during middle of July to August will help completion of sowing of corps such as rice, pulses, oil-seeds and coarse cereals.
According to latest data, the monsoon rains so far have been deficit by 18% as the Long Period Average (LPA), calculated on the basis of a 50-year average rainfall of 89 cm.
The latest agriculture ministry data has stated that kharif sowing have been carried out in more than 874 lakh hectare till now against 928 lakh hectare covered during the same period last year. This is a decline of a marginal 6%.
An agriculture ministry official told FE that due to more than average rainfall received during last four weeks have pushed up kharif sowing activities which was delayed because of scantly rainfall of only 47% of LPA received during the month of June.
Due late surge in rainfall activities, the rice sowing has declined marginally to 296 lakh hectare till now against 299 lakh hectare reported in the previous year.
?We are not expecting any sharp variation in rice production this year,? an official said to this newspaper.
