Area sown to almost all kharif (summer) crops was lagging so far due to deficit rains, with rice acreage at only 223.5 lakh hectare and pulses in 105.14 lakh hectare, the Agriculture Ministry said on Friday.

Sowing of kharif crops begin with the onset of southwest monsoon and harvesting from October onwards.
As per the latest ministry data, rice — the main kharif crop — has been planted in 223.53 lakh hectare so far in the current kharif season of the 2019-20 crop year (July-June), down from 255.48 lakh hectare a year ago.

Similarly, acreage of pulses was down at 105.14 lakh hectare as against 113.74 lakh hectare, while that of coarse cereals at 136.17 lakh hectare as against 145.16 lakh hectare in the said period.

The coverage of oilseeds was also less so far as 149.49 lakh hectare was covered so far this kharif season when compared with 157.39 lakh hectare a year ago.

Among cash crops, area under sugarcane and jute remained lower, while cotton acreage remained higher so far.

Area planted to sugarcane was at 52.30 lakh hectare as against 55.45 lakh hectare, while that of jute at 6.83 lakh hectare as against 7.19 lakh hectare in the said period.

Total acreage under all kharif crops was down at 788.52 lakh hectare so far in this season, as against 844.20 lakh hectare in the same season last year.

Experts are of the view that sowing activities were delayed because of late arrival of monsoon and later coverage could not pick up in some pockets because of 9 per cent deficit in rains till July-end.

According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), there was 9 per cent deficit in cumulative monsoon in the last two months.

There was rainfall deficit reported is states such as Manipur, Nagaland, West Begnal, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Gujarat, Chhatisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, it said in its report.