Paddy Takes A Back Seat As Millet Steals The Show

The figures from the Union Agriculture Ministry revealed a decline of 1.91 lakh hectares when compared with the amount of coverage in the previous year during the identical period, despite the sowing of paddy picking up in States apart from Punjab and Haryana.

Millets are being grown on 0.43 lakh additional hectares during this kharif (summer) season. The sowing season begins in June in Punjab and after May 15 in Haryana.

The previous year, the production was nearly 29 lakh hectares during this period. This year, as per the media reports, the Agriculture Ministry said that the sowing of paddy is nearly 27.89 lakh hectares, He additionally stated that major states that sowed paddy this season are Telangana (4.77 lahks), West Bengal (7.90 lahks), Assam (3.02 lakh), Tamil Nadu (1.48 lakh), Karnataka (3.29 lakh), Maharashtra (1.64 lakh), Odisha (1.95 lakh), Gujarat (0.79 lakh), Andhra Pradesh (1.12 lakh), Chhattisgarh (0.56 lakh), Kerala (0.59 lakh), Jharkhand (0.05 lakh) and Bihar (0.29 lakh). All these figures are in hectares.

Pulses were sown on around 19.61 lakh hectares, with Madhya Pradesh taking the top spot with 9.64 lakh hectares. There were 18.44 lakh hectares in the same time frame last year. The cultivation of millets and coarse grains has also somewhat increased.

Gujarat (3.25 lakh hectares), Uttar Pradesh (2.82 lakh hectares), West Bengal (1.34 lakh hectares), and Maharashtra (1.15 lakh hectares) were among the largest areas affected. Millets have been encouraged to be grown and used by the Centre. 9.96 lakh hectares were planted with oil seeds. In the identical time frame of the kharif season as the year before, it recorded nearly 10.85 lakh hectares.

The largest States that have seeded oilseeds are Gujarat (1.77 lakh hectares), West Bengal (3.29 lakh hectares), Uttar Pradesh (1.27 lakh hectares), and Maharashtra (1.11 lakh hectares). According to the Ministry, 11.73 lakh hectares of area covered have been reported as opposed to 11.30 lakh hectares in the same period the previous year.