Area sown decreases for paddy and pulses

While the area sown for rice (paddy) has gone down from 417.93 lakh hectares (ha) in 2021 to 399.03 lakh ha in 2022, that for pulses has decreased from 137.50 lakh ha to 131.92 lakh ha. This has been stated in the progress report of area coverage under Kharif crops released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. The report takes into account the area covered as on 16 September.

Thus 18.90 lakh ha less area has been covered compared to last year in the case of rice. Less area is reported from Jharkhand (9.37 lakh ha), Madhya Pradesh (6.32 lakh ha), West Bengal (3.65 lakh ha), Uttar Pradesh (2.48 lakh ha) and Bihar (1.97 lakh ha). Assam, Chhattisgarh, Tripura, Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Punjab, Goa, Mizoram and Sikkim are also lagging behind. A higher area has been reported mainly from Telangana (4.75 lakh ha), Haryana (0.94 lakh ha), Nagaland (0.79 lakh ha), Gujarat (0.55 lakh ha), Rajasthan (0.37 lakh ha) and Tamil Nadu (0.27 lakh ha).

In the case of pulses, 5.58 lakh ha less area has been covered compared to last year. While less area has been reported mainly from Maharashtra (3.52 lakh ha), Telangana (1.72 lakh ha) and Jharkhand (1.31 lakh ha), higher area has been reported mainly from Madhya Pradesh (4.08 lakh ha).

About 181.31 lakh ha area coverage under coarse cereals has been reported compared to the corresponding period of last year (174.05 lakh ha). Thus 7.26 lakh ha more area has been covered compared to last year. Higher area has been reported mainly from Rajasthan (8.27 lakh ha).

The area covered for oilseeds and sugarcane has not witnessed much difference. About 190.91 lakh ha area coverage under oilseeds has been reported compared to corresponding period of last year (192.23 lakh ha). Thus 1.32 lakh ha less area has been covered compared to last year. About 55.65 lakh ha area coverage under sugarcane has been reported compared to the corresponding period of last year (54.97 lakh ha). Thus 0.68 lakh ha more area has been covered compared to last year.

While the area for jute and mesta remains nearly the same, about 127.15 lakh ha area coverage under cotton has been reported compared to the corresponding period of last year (118.24 lakh ha). Thus 8.91 lakh ha more area has been covered compared to last year. This is primarily due to more area covered in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.