New Delhi, July 18: Delayed monsoon has affected paddy sowing across the country with the area under the crop declining by 21 per cent to 114.63 lakh hectare till today against 145.21 lakh hectare in the year-ago period.
However, there is substantial improvement over last week when acreage stood at 74.28 lakh hectare (LH) till July 10.
The acreage of coarse cereals comprising jowar, bajra and maize have also declined mainly due to lower planting of bajra, an official statement said on Friday.
Cotton, arhar (pigeon peas), urad (black matpe), sunflower are the only crops that have seen an increase in the sowing area, according to the weekly crop weather data released by the Agriculture Ministry.
The sowing area under cotton has risen to 68.92 LH as on July 17, compared with 61.68 LH in the corresponding period last year. The sugarcane acreage has dipped to 42.50 LH from 43.79 LH.
Jute area has been lower at 6.89 LH from 7.06 LH, while bajra is down at 34.67 LH against 46.01 LH. Jowar and maize areas have marginally fallen to 16.57 LH from 17.16 LH and 46.18 LH from 47.41 LH, respectively.
The groundnut acreage has come down to 25.69 LH from 27.63 LH, while soyabean dipped to 71.36 LH from 72.37 LH.
–PTI