Kharif Sowing Picks up Pace, Acreage Reaches 27.872 million hectares till 1st July

Sowing of Kharif crops has accelerated with the southwest (SW) monsoon entering an active phase, bringing heavy rainfall across the country.

According to data from the agricultural ministry, the acreage under Kharif as of 1 July was 27.872 million hectares, up from 14.05 million hectares on 24 June, reducing the fall in acreage to 5.3 percent from 24 percent.

As of July 1, sowing has been completed on 27.872 million hectares in the current Kharif season as against 29.443 million hectares during the same time the previous year.

An agricultural ministry official said, "There is sufficient supply of quality seeds of all major Kharif crops for Kharif 2022, and availability of fertilizer has also been comfortable."

The official further said that the country's North-Eastern region - West Bengal, Odisha that have favorable soil moisture conditions. The most common crops cultivated during the Kharif season are cotton, maize, soyabean, oilseeds, and pulses.

However, according to experts, the majority of Kharif crops have a planting window extending until July, and Therefore rainfall must be decent over the next few weeks.

By June 11, the southwest monsoon had started a weak phase after an early commencement across Kerala and had resulted in a 43 percent deficit in rainfall. As a result, Kharif crops were slowly sown, which resulted in a 24 percent decrease in acres as of June 24. After that, it went into the active phase, bringing rain to several areas of the nation and reducing the deficit.

Officials report that the total rainfall up to July 7 was 222.2 mm, which is close to the average of 221.6 mm. Since June 30, the daily mean rainfall, which was low during the week of June 22–29, has been above the average level.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), This year's monsoon is expected to be typical, with rainfall 103 percent of the long-period average.

The nation is completely submerged by mid-July during the southwest monsoon season, which starts from June and continue till September. Monsoon is essential since it is the main source of irrigation for the crops in India. Adequate rains will increase agricultural production and reduce food inflation.

The country's 143 reservoirs have a combined live water storage capacity of 177.464 billion cubic metres (BCM), and as of July 7, there was 53.649 BCM of live storage available in those reservoirs, or 30% of their entire live storage capacity. The storage level for this year is nearly 95% of what it was for last year.