MC Daily Monsoon Tracker: Kharif sowing rises 0.8%, rainfall surplus dries out to 29-day low

Sowing up 0.8% from normal

Kharif sowing was 0.8 percent higher than the last five-year average to 110.5 million hectares, according to data released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.

The acreage surpassed the previous year’s numbers by August and was 1.5 percent higher than normal, as of September 20.

Paddy sowing remained 3 percent above average, while coarse cereals acreage shot past the five-year average by 6.4 percent.

Oilseeds also rose by 1.9 percent from normal to 19.4 million hectares. Earlier this month, the government imposed a duty on edible oil imports.

Pulses sowing, however, remained 5.5 percent below average, with jute and cotton sowing over 10 percent below the normal acreage.

India’s rainfall surplus narrowed further to its lowest level in 29 days of 5.15 percent from 5.49 percent a day before.

Among the nine states experiencing deficit rainfall, Nagaland and Manipur had 32 percent deficit, followed by Arunachal Pradesh and Bihar at 30 and 28 percent.

Punjab had a deficit of 27 percent.

India’s reservoir levels remained unchanged at 18 percent on September 19.

Northern regions of the country continued to witness a decline in reservoir levels from the normal, even as situation in the eastern region improved.