-globalbihari bureau
New Delhi: The government on Saturday claimed that sowing of the summer crops had “progressed satisfactorily” despite the difficulties experienced due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and the 21-day lockdown effective since March 24 midnight to fight the COVID-19 outbreak.
Statistics compiled by the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare as on April 10, 2020 revealed that the total area under the Summer Crops (including Rice, Pulses, Coarse Cereals and Oil Seeds) cultivation had jumped significantly, registering 11.64% increase over last year, overcoming the restrictions and social distancing norms witnessed since last month after the lockdown. As against a total cultivated area of 37.12 lakh hectares in the year 2018-19, the summer crops have been sown in an area of 48.76 lakh ha this year, 2019-20. The normal area of corresponding week in the last year was 41.81 lakh ha as on April 10.
Among the Summer Crops, the main driver of this growth in cultivable area is Rice, clocking a robust 8.77% increase in sown area. All other crops have registered increase in sown area below 1%, barring Ragi coarse cereal which has registered a marginal decline of 0.06% over the last year. About 32.58 lakh ha area coverage under Summer Rice has been reported compared to 23.81 lakh ha during the corresponding period of last year. The area has been reported mainly from the States of West Bengal (11.25 lakh ha), Telangana (7.45 lakh ha), Odisha (3.13 lakh ha), Assam (2.73 lakh ha), Karnataka (1.64 lakh ha), Chhattisgarh (1.50 lakh ha), Tamil Nadu (1.30 lakh ha), Bihar (1.22 lakh ha), Maharashtra (0.65 lakh ha), Madhya Pradesh (0.59 lakh ha), Gujarat (0.54 lakh ha) and Kerala (0.46 lakh ha).
As regards Pulses, about 3.97 lakh ha area coverage has been reported compared to 3.01 lakh ha during the corresponding period of last year. The area has been reported mainly from the States of Tamil Nadu (1.46 lakh ha), Uttar Pradesh (0.73 lakh ha), West Bengal (0.59 lakh ha), Gujarat (0.51 lakh ha), Chhattisgarh (0.24 lakh ha), Bihar (0.18 lakh ha), Karnataka (0.08 lakh ha), Punjab (0.05 lakh ha), Maharashtra (0.04 lakh ha), Madhya Pradesh (0.03 lakh ha), Jharkhand (0.03 lakh ha), Telangana (0.02 lakh ha) and Uttarakhand (0.01 lakh ha).
Among Coarse cereals, about 5.54 lakh ha area coverage has been reported compared to 4.33 lakh ha during the corresponding period of last year. The area has been reported mainly from the States of Gujarat (2.27 lakh ha), West Bengal (1.21 lakh ha), Maharashtra (0.63 lakh ha), Bihar (0.41 lakh ha), Karnataka (0.39 lakh ha), Chhattisgarh (0.29 lakh ha), Tamil Nadu (0.26 lakh ha), Madhya Pradesh (0.08 lakh ha) and Jharkhand (0.01 lakh ha).
While among Oilseeds, about 6.66 lakh ha Sown area has been reported compared to 5.97 lakh ha during the corresponding period of last year. The area has been reported mainly from the States of West Bengal (1.33 lakh ha), Karnataka (1.30 lakh ha), Gujarat (1.09 lakh ha), Odisha (0.62 lakh ha), Maharashtra (0.58 lakh ha), Tamil Nadu (0.53 lakh ha), Andhra Pradesh (0.41 lakh ha), Uttar Pradesh (0.28 lakh ha), Telangana (0.21 lakh ha), Chhattisgarh (0.18 lakh ha), Haryana (0.06 lakh ha), Punjab (0.04 lakh ha), Bihar (0.03 lakh ha) and Madhya Pradesh (0.02 lakh ha).
