Mumbai, June 24:
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| Farmers plough their field at Meni village in Shirala Taluk of Sangli district of Maharashtra in this file photo. |
With the monsoon arriving on time in Maharashtra, sowing has been completed in about 20 per cent of the total cultivable area of 144 lakh hectares. Even the drought-prone Vidarbha region has received good rains and cotton is being planted on vast tracks of land, said a senior officer of the State Government.
State Agriculture Commissioner Umakant Dangat told Business Line that due to “good rains” in Vidarbha, cotton tops the list of crops sown in the State. The Konkan region has also received good rainfall, but planting of rice has not commenced in the region, he said.
On the other hand, Dangat said, districts such as Beed and Latur in the Marathwada region and parts of Satara district in western Maharashtra are yet to receive rainfall, which has delayed the sowing.
Adequate rain
Since the beginning of the monsoon, the State has received 228 mm of rainfall, while the average rainfall in June is 128 mm. If the bounty continues, then the State could comfortably overcome the drought-like situation prevalent earlier.
This kharif season, crops are expected to be planted over 135 lh. This includes sugarcane, which overall would cover about 144 lh across Maharashtra. In the Konkan region – the rice bowl of Maharashtra – nurseries are spread over 30,000 hectares.
Rice crop requires replanting and farmers are in the process of making nurseries with rice shoots in the Konkan area, said Dangat.
Agriculture expert Raosaheb Pujari said that in the agriculturally progressive Kolhapur, which remained unaffected by the drought, different crops have been planted in almost 80 per cent of the cultivable area. In talukas, which are near Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts of the Konkan region, the planting is almost 100 per cent, he said.
Pujari said that farmers have already planted soyabean, which is expected to be harvested by early September. After that, sugarcane would be planted, which would be ready for the 2014 cane crushing season.
He pointed out that last year, Sangli district was under drought, but this year it has received adequate rainfall. However, the farmers are still in a ‘drought mindset’ and have not started sowing earnestly. The demand for seeds and fertilisers has still not surged, he pointed out.
