Rajasthan may see bumper kharif poduction on good rains

Jaipur, Aug 11: With good rainfall this monsoon season, Rajasthan is likely to have bumper kharif crop production as the sowing was done in 144 lakh hectare area so far as against a target of 157 lakh hectare in 2015, a statistical report of agriculture department said on Tuesday.

With the excess rainfall as compared to last year, the sowing targets of kharif crops including Bajra, Sorghum, cereals, rice, and pulses were achieved at an average of 92 per cent so far, the report said.

Bajra seeds were sown in 41 lakh hectare, while Sorghum in 5.72 lakh hectare, rice in 1.32 lakh hectare and pulses 23.07 lakh hectare, this kharif season. If the weather conditions continued to be favourable by November-December, the kharif production could be higher than last year's 149 lakh MT, experts anticipate.

Last year's kharif crop season sowing was achieved in 124 lakh hectare with the production success of 149 lakh tonne.

This year, as against the sowing target in 157 lakh hectare, kharif sowing was done in 144 lakh hectare as of today, which was about 92 per cent, and this would increase slowly if rains continued, H L Meena, Additional Director, Agriculture (Inputs) said.

Despite odd weather conditions of hailstorm in rabi crop season (February to April) 2015, Rajasthan recorded 98.67 L MT of wheat, 28.79 L MT of mustard, 9.61 Lakh MT of Barley, 9.10 Lakh MT of Gram, L N Bairwa, Joint Director (Statistics) said.

PTI