Area sown to kharif rice up 37.70% so far: Agriculture Ministry

Area sown to rice increased by 37.70 percent to 34.73 lakh hectare so far in the kharif (summer) season of the 2020-21 crop year, according to Agriculture Ministry data released on Friday.

Farmers had planted rice in 25.22 lakh hectare area in the year-ago period in the same season.

Rice is rain-fed kharif crop besides maize, bajra, green gram, black gram, groundnut and sesame seeds in the category of foodgrains basket. The Met Department has forecast a normal southwest monsoon during June-September period.

With regard to rice planting, the ministry has advised states to promote Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) which require less labour and tend to mature faster than transplanted crops. It has also asked them to promote cultivation of hybrid rice.

Currently, 8 percent farmers use this method especially in states like Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, it said. The government is targeting 102.6 million tonne of rice production in the kharif season of the 2020-21 crop year (July-June).

As per the ministry's data, area sown to pulses has increased to 5.07 lakh hectare so far in the kharif season this year from 3.82 lakh hectare in the year-ago.

In case of pulses, the ministry has advised states to promote inter-cropping of pulses with oilseeds, sugarcane, maize and cotton. It has also asked to use bunds for cultivation of arhar or tur dal besides weed management and application of fertilizers based on soil head card.

Similarly, area sown to coarse cereals has increased to 8.55 lakh hectare from 5.47 lakh hectare, while that of oilseeds acreage increased to 8.73 lakh hectare from 6.80 lakh hectare in the said period, the data showed.

The ministry has asked to give priority to oileeds and promote improved variety of soybean, groundnut sesame and sunflower seeds.

States have been asked to replace upland or low yielding paddy areas with oilseeds besides promoting inter-cropping with pulses, cotton, maize and millets.

Farming activities have been exempted from the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown. Farmers have been asked to take safety precautions and maintain social distancing while planting kharif crops. The government has set a foodgrain production target of 149.92 million tonne for the kharif season of the 2020-21 crop year.