Lowest area under paddy in a decade

According to data released by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, just 7.22 million hectares (mha) have been sown with paddy this year.

Key Observations:

• Area under paddy has remained between 8.9 mha and 12.57 mha since 2012.
• The Centre’s data says that paddy has been sown on 43.45 lakh hectares till July 1, which is 27.05% less than last year’s sowing of 59.56 lakh hectares during the same period of 2021.
• All major paddy growing states such as Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Odisha and Chhattisgarh have recorded less sowing compared to last year.
• Kharif crops (including paddy, pulses, oilseeds, coarse grains, sugarcane, cotton and jute) have been sown on an area that is 6.29 mha (16 per cent) less than last year. 
• The area under coarse grains like jowar, bajra, ragi, maize has been hit the highest — 76.43 per cent less than 2021. 
  

Primary reason:

• The primary reason being attributed to the reduced sown area is the failure of the monsoon in the month of June in most parts of the country.

Impact:

• India’s Public Distribution System (PDS) could be in for trouble if sowing doesn’t pick up in the month of July, as rice is its main food item.
• India has already witnessed low wheat crop due to a scorching heat wave in March, which resulted in a record drop (56.6 per cent) in the government’s wheat procurement for the Rabi Marketing season 2022-23. 

Sowing of Kharif crops:

• The sowing of Kharif crops begins with the onset of the southwest monsoon in June.
• Paddy is a major Kharif crop.
• However, the rainfall was deficient by 10 per cent in central India and 2 per cent in the northwest region of the country between June 1 and July 6.
• The rainfall deficiency was as high as 36 per cent in the major rice-growing region of east and north-east India.
• The area covered under pulses rose marginally by 1 per cent to 46.55 lakh hectares of the ongoing Kharif season.
• However, the area under arhar was down by 28.58 per cent at 16.58 lakh hectares, while that of urad by 10.34 per cent to 7.47 lakh hectares in the comparable period.
• Among oilseeds, area coverage under soybean was down by 21.74 per cent at 54.43 lakh hectares.
• Area sown to groundnut slipped 19 per cent to 20.51 lakh hectares
• Area sown to maize was lower by 24 per cent at 31.84 lakh hectares.
• Area sown to cotton was down marginally by 0.18 per cent at 84.60 lakh hectares.
• The area sown to bajra has risen by 79 per cent to 26.77 lakh hectares.