Monsoon has belied earlier fears of scanty appearance especially when the Kharif sowing season was on. Domestic pulse production falling considerably and the prices touching all time high has created a panic situation forcing for the import from small countries to check the rising price. The late break of monsoon has elated the hopes and the current season has seen the acreage for pulses recording a substantial jump, the total sown area under Kharif (summer) crops has for the first time this season crossed the mark of the overall acreage during the corresponding period last year. The week proved to be beneficial in alleviating water shortages as the country’s 91 key reservoirs also recorded sufficient increase in the availability of water due to good monsoon rains. As far as Jammu and Kashmir is considered, essentially a mountainous State, has only about 30 per cent of the reporting area under cultivation. Agriculture is the mainstay of the people as it provides employment, directly or indirectly to about 70 per cent of the workforce. It contributes about 65 per cent of the State revenue which explains the overdependence of the State on agriculture. Good rains in several parts of the country boosted sowing operations. The gap in sowing area has come down. The sowing situation is expected to improve further. The sowing data, released by the Agriculture Ministry on Friday , shows that the total sown area under kharif crops increased from 406.27 lakh hectare on 8th July to 559.76 lakh hectare as on Friday -indicating a pickup in pace of sowing operations in many parts of the country during the week. The jump is mainly attributed to increase in acreage in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. The sown area at this time last year was 548.38 lakh hectares. With lack of supportive Maximum Support Price (MSP) most of the farmers have shifted from the conventional farming to cash crops causing a supply deficit which shot the prices of cereals creating a shortage by hoarding resorted to by big traders. Govt should announce better MSP for the farmers so that cereals production is not affected.
