India’s Farmers Plant More Crops This Year Thanks to Good Monsoon Rains
New Delhi, India – India’s Kharif crop sowing has progressed significantly, with farmers planting crops across 1,104.63 lakh hectares so far, compared to 1,088.26 lakh hectares last year, marking a 1.5 per cent year-on-year increase. This surpasses the average area under cultivation for the period from 2018-19 to 2022-23.
Increased Sowing of Key Crops
Commodity-wise, the sowing of paddy, pulses, oilseeds, millets, and sugarcane has increased year-on-year, while sowing for cotton and jute/mesta has been lower. Within the pulse basket, aside from urad bean, crops such as arhar, moong, kulthi, and moth bean have seen positive growth. India is a major consumer and producer of pulses, supplementing its domestic consumption with imports. The primary pulses consumed in India include chana, masur, urad, kabuli chana, and tur.
Government Support and Monsoon Predictions
The government has been strongly promoting the cultivation of pulses. In the 2023 Kharif season, the total area under cultivation across the country was 1,107.15 lakh hectares. The normal Kharif area between 2018-19 and 2022-23 is 1,096 lakh hectares. India has three cropping seasons: Summer, Kharif, and Rabi. Kharif crops, sown during June-July and dependent on monsoon rains, are harvested in October-November. Rabi crops, sown in October-November, are harvested from January, depending on their maturity. Summer crops are produced between the Rabi and Kharif seasons.
Traditionally, Indian agriculture, especially the Kharif season, is heavily reliant on monsoon rainfall. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), in its first long-range forecast, predicted that the southwest monsoon (June-September) this year would be above normal. Skymet, a private forecaster, also predicted a normal monsoon. IMD recently stated that the rainfall across the country during September 2024 is expected to be above normal, at 109 per cent of the Long Period Average. Above-normal monsoon rains, which have helped farmers sow more crops this Kharif season, bode well for agriculture and are likely to improve the sector’s gross value added (GVA), according to rating agency ICRA.
Doubts Revealed
Kharif crop -: Kharif crops are the crops that are sown at the beginning of the rainy season, usually around June, and harvested in the autumn. Examples include rice, maize, and millets.
hectares -: A hectare is a unit of area measurement used in agriculture. One hectare is about the size of a football field.
paddy -: Paddy is another word for rice when it is still in the field and before it has been processed.
pulses -: Pulses are a type of leguminous crop that are harvested for their dry seeds. Examples include beans, lentils, and chickpeas.
oilseeds -: Oilseeds are seeds used to produce oil. Common examples are sunflower seeds, mustard seeds, and groundnuts.
millets -: Millets are small-seeded grasses that are grown as cereal crops. They are very nutritious and include types like ragi and bajra.
sugarcane -: Sugarcane is a tall tropical plant from which sugar is made. It looks like bamboo and is grown in fields.
cotton -: Cotton is a soft, fluffy fiber that grows in a boll around the seeds of the cotton plant. It is used to make clothes and other textiles.
jute/mesta -: Jute and mesta are plants used to make strong, coarse fibers. These fibers are used to make things like ropes and sacks.
Indian Meteorological Department -: The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) is a government agency that studies weather and climate. They predict things like rain and temperature.
monsoon rains -: Monsoon rains are heavy seasonal rains that occur in India and other parts of Asia. They are very important for farming.
gross value added (GVA) -: Gross Value Added (GVA) is a measure of the value of goods and services produced in an area, industry, or sector of an economy. It helps to understand how much value farming adds to the economy.
