Rice Acreage Drops by 13% Due to Insufficient Rainfall in Major Paddy-producing States

Due to inadequate rainfall in the major paddy-producing states, rice sowing in the current Kharif season has decreased by 13% till August 5.

According to data issued by the agricultural ministry on Monday, the area covered under paddy stood at 274.30 lakh hectare as on August 5, compared to 314.14 lakh hectares during the same period previous year.

The largest paddy-producing states are West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Telangana, all reported Less paddy acreage.

As on August 8, eastern Uttar Pradesh has a 43% rainfall deficit, compared to 36% in western Uttar Pradesh. Bihar and Jharkhand have rainfall deficiency of 38% and 45% respectively. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) reports that rainfall in the Gangetic West Bengal has decreased by 46%.

India is the largest exporter of rice and commands a 40% share in the global market. A shortage in rice production will impact global trade, especially in a year when wheat production has decreased.

Rice output stood at a record 129.66 million tonne in the 2021-22 crop year (July-June). In the fiscal year 2021–2022, India exported 21.2 million tonnes of rice. In contrast to the buffer norm of 13.5 million tonne, the Centre has a store of 47 million tonne of rice as on July 1.

On the other hand, the acreage under coarse cereals, cotton, sugarcane, oilseeds, and jute and mesta is higher till 5 August 2022, as compared to the previous year.

According to data, the acreage of coarse cereals went up to 16.03 million hectares up from 15.44 million hectares. Sowing area of oilseeds was up at 17.47 million hectares till 8 August, from 17.38 million hectares in 2021.

Cotton sowing also increased to 12.12 million hectares, up from 11.35 million hectares. The total area under all Kharif crops was down at 90.86 million hectares till 5 August, against 93.66 million hectares during the same period last year.