Land under kharif crop cultivation increases
15 Sep 2007
The area of land coverage for kharif crops has gone up considerably as compared to September last year as per data compiled by the agriculture ministry.
The total coverage of kharif rice has gone up to 355.73 lakh hectare as compared to 355.16 lakh hectare last year, the weekly Crop Weather Watch Group meeting of the ministry of agriculture was informed in New Delhi today.
Transplanting is at the end stage in Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal and is a t a peak in the rest of the states. The sowing of various coarse cereals has ended in almost all states.
The area coverage under jowar, so far, is 33.92 lakh hectare against 34.98 lakh hectare during last year, under bajra 82.17 lakh hectare against 78.23 lakh hectare, maize 76.17 lakh hectare against 71.74 lakh hectare and total coarse cereals 213.33 lakh hectare against 202.53 lakh hectare during the corresponding period last year.
The area covered under cotton so far is 90.68 lakh hectare against 86.89 lakh hectare during the corresponding period of last year. Out of this 53.32 lakh hectare is under Bt cotton.
The total coveage under sugarcane has been reported at 51.04 lakh hectare against 48.32 lakh hectare. The coverage under jute has been reported at 8.29 lakh ha against 8.18 lakh ha during the corresponding period of last year, while mesta has been sown in 1.48 lakh hectare against 1.53 lakh hectare during.
The total coverage of oilseeds so far has been 173.01 lakh ha as compared to 161.72 lakh ha on 13 September, last year. Soyabean has been sown in 8 per cent and groundnut in 13 per cent higher area as compared to that in 2006.
Pulses cover an area of 121.25 lakh hectare against 110.35 lakh hectare up to this time last year.
