COVID-19 pandemic forced countries into lockdown, India followed the same path. Lockdown destroyed farmers’ income as they couldn’t get good price for their produce. This year monsoon was stable which gave hope to many farmers.
As the month of June received heavy rainfall, farm activity around the country increased. This year so far in the season, important key crops sowing increased by 87 percent if compared to last year.
Rice cultivation grown nearly 40 percent of the total area during the Kharif season, is up 39 percent, while the oilseeds area risen by more than three times and the cultivation of the pulses has quadrupled.
"At present, the government has surplus food grain production. But there is a need to grow pulses and oilseeds, for which we are dependent on imports. By bringing more area under oilseeds, we can become self-reliant," said agriculture commissioner S K Malhotra.
States like Bihar, Punjab, and Haryana where Kharif season crops are the main good monsoon helped farmers increase the sowing area this year. Fears of unavailable migrant workers will affect farmers this year, but farmers balanced the workforce by using his own family members.
India is the biggest exporter of rice and cotton, this year monsoon will help the farmer get a good harvest. Above-normal rains across central India helped in increasing the sowing of soybean, this helped in increasing the cultivation area by five times compared to last year.
"The area under cotton has doubled this year. Farmers, especially in Punjab, have diverted to cotton crops from rice crops due to a shortage of labour. We are expecting cotton production to go up with the help of timely arrival of monsoon," said an agriculture department official to ET.
