Production area of Kharif crops in Gujarat is 5 lakh hectares behind last year
29-Jul-2024 05:53 PM
Ahmedabad. Sowing of Kharif crops is being affected due to uneven distribution of rains of South-West monsoon in the western state of the country- Gujarat. Although sowing has gained momentum there in recent days, but still the total area is lagging behind last year by about 5 lakh hectares.
According to the latest data released by the State Agriculture Department, during the current Kharif season, the total production area of crops in Gujarat has reached only 69.66 lakh hectares, which is 5 lakh hectares less than the sowing area of 74.64 lakh hectares during the same period last year and 81.4 percent of the normal average area of 85.59 lakh hectares.
Compared to last year, this year there has been a decline in the sowing area of other grain crops including paddy, pulses, cotton, guar, whereas the area of oilseeds has increased slightly.
According to the available data, during the current Kharif season, in comparison to last year, paddy production area in Gujarat has decreased from 7.10 lakh hectare to 6.32 lakh hectare and sowing area of millets has fallen from 1.81 lakh hectare to 1.42 lakh hectare,
whereas area of sorghum has improved from 13 thousand hectare to 15 thousand hectare and area of maize has increased from 2.80 lakh hectare to 2.82 lakh hectare. Total production area of paddy and coarse grains has decreased from 11.85 lakh hectare last year to 10.76 lakh hectare this time.
The total area under pulses crops slipped from 3.18 lakh hectare last year to 3.09 lakh hectare this time, under this although the production area of Arhar (Tuvar) increased from 1.78 lakh hectare to 1.97 lakh hectare but the sowing area of Moong decreased from 58 thousand hectare to 37 thousand hectare,
area of Moth fell from 12 thousand hectare to 8 thousand hectare and area of Urad slipped from 70 thousand hectare to 65 thousand hectare.
As far as oilseeds are concerned, its total production area increased from 21.81 lakh hectare last year to 22.90 lakh hectare this time. Under this, especially the sowing area of groundnut increased from 16.22 lakh hectare to 18.83 lakh hectare and soybean area jumped from 2.63 lakh hectare to 2.93 lakh hectare,
while on the other hand the area under sesame fell from 53 thousand hectare to 36 thousand hectare and castor production area declined from 2.43 lakh hectare to just 78 thousand hectare. Cultivation of other oilseeds was done in a limited area.
Apart from this, the production area of cotton in Gujarat declined from 26.65 lakh hectare to 23.15 lakh hectare and the sowing area of guar decreased from 86 thousand hectare to 42 thousand hectare.