Kharif sowing picks up in many parts of country

New Delhi, June 22 (UNI) With the advancement of Southwest monsoon, sowing of Kharif crops has picked up in various states recording a total coverage to the tune of 23.140 lakh hectares, according to the weekly Crop Weather Watch Group (CWWG) meeting of the Ministry of Agriculture here today.

Transplanting of rice is in progress in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Asom, Haryana, J&K, Karnataka, Kerala, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and West Bengal, the CWWG said.

Total coarse cereals cover an area of 8.306 lakh hectares, with jowar in 1.780 lakh hectare, bajra in 0.686 lakh hectares and maize in 4.781 lakh hectare.

Cotton has been sown in 15.290 lakh hectares in the States of Haryana, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. Out of this, 8.68 lakh hectares is under BT cotton.

Sugarcane coverage is reported to be 44.020 lakh hectare and jute 7.864 lakh hectare.

As for oilseeds, the total coverage, so far, has been 4.52 lakh hectares with the break up of groundnut in 2.53 lakh hectares, soyabean in 0.24 lakh hectares, sunflower 0.81 lakh hectares, sesamum in 0.77 lakh hectares and castor in 0.17 lakh hectares.

UNI