According to the government of India’s recent statistics released on Monday, summer pulses sowing is up 37.19% while summer oilseed sowing is up 3.35% despite rice being grown in 1.87 lakh hectares fewer than it was last year.
Summer pulse output seen between rabi and kharif harvests is estimated to reach approximately a million tonnes this season, up nearly tenfold from last year.
In the case of pulses “about 12.21 lakh ha area coverage has been reported compared to 8.90 lakh ha during the corresponding period of previous year,” according to a statement from the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.
Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Assam, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Jammu & Kashmir have all reported incidents in the area.
The current surge in summer variety production may dampen price pressures on pulses, which have seen double-digit wholesale price inflation in recent months.
Pulse inflation increased to 11.29% in the year April, up from 10.05% in the previous year.
According to official estimates, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, and Odisha have seen the greatest increase in summer pulse sowing this year. According to a senior agriculture ministry official, the government will continue to motivate farmers to plant more pulses during the seasonal break in order to supplement their income. It has been focusing on increasing pulse output during the summer season for the last three to four years, and officials’ see this year’s development as proof that their efforts have paid off. “We have done a lot of field presentations and area specific programs to emphasize the importance of planting pulses during the summer season as well,” the official said.
Summer rice has been planted on approximately 28.51 lakh ha, particularly in comparison to 30.38 lakh ha during the same period last year. While nutri-cum-coarse cereals such as jowar, bajra, ragi and maize have been sown in approximately 9.22 lakh ha area, compared to 9.19 lakh ha during the same period last year.
