Jun 26 2009 1:13PM
MUMBAI, June 26 (Reuters) - Lower rains have cut sowing in the Indian state of Gujarat by about 77 percent so far in the ongoing kharif season, and if rains fail in early July farmers may have to sow other crops, a senior government official said on Friday.
Sowing has been done in only a little over 500,000 hectares of land against 2.15 million hectares covered in the same period last year.
"Rains have been poor forcing farmers to sow limited areas... there have been some rains in the coastal areas in the last two days, if rains continue sowing should pick up," S.R. Choudhury, director-agriculture, Gujarat, said.
Gujarat is the largest producer of cotton and groundnut, an oilseed, and also produces sugarcane and soybean.
Most of the area so far in this year's sowing has gone to cotton and groundnut, Choudhury said, adding the state would have to go for planting of other crops as a contingency measure, if rains fail in July.
As contingency measure the state government will promote sowing of oilseeds like sunflower, sesame and castor, as they can withstand lower soil moisture, he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment