In early kharif sowing, Karnataka farmers expand area under tur, moong and maize

The area under pulses crops such as tur and moong and cereals, mainly maize, are witnessing a major jump in Karnataka on good pre-monsoon showers with farmers preferring to plant these crops. This is despite monsoon turning a bit erratic over the past couple of weeks leading to a rainfall deficit in about seven of the 31 districts in the State.

The acreage under tur has seen a 563 per cent increase at 5.73 lakh hectares (lh) till June 21 in Karnataka over the normal for the period of 1.01 lh. Karnataka is the major producer of tur. Similarly, the area under moong and urad has increased by 205 per cent over the normal acreage.

Moong has been planted on 3.35 lh till June 21 against a normal coverage of 1.63 lh for the period. Karnataka is targeting a moong acreage of 3.99 lh for the season. Urad has been planted on 0.73 lh as of June 21, about twice the normal area for the period.

Coverage target

Overall, the pulses acreage stood at 10.378 lh against 1.21 lh a year ago and normal coverage of 3.49 lh. The State has targeted pulses area of 21.19 lh for the kharif season. Pulses production was affected last year due to deficit rains as a result of which prices are ruling higher level compared with the same period last year. Drought across the Stateimpacted the kharif output last year.

The maize acreage stood at 8.98 lh till June 21, an increase of 294 per cent over the normal coverage for the period at 3.06 lh. In the same period last year, maize was planted on 1.25 lh in the State. Maize prices are ruling firm, and the Centre recently announced an increase in the minimum support price for all the kharif crops. Karnataka, a major producer of kharif maize, has targeted an acreage of 15.40 lh for the current cropping season.

Among oilseeds, farmers in the State have shown preference towards soyabean and groundnut. The area under soyabean has increased by over than three times to 3.03 lh over the normal of 0.99 lh . Similarly, the acreage under groundnut has more than doubled to over 0.82 lh over the normal of 0.39 lh. Niger, sunflower and sesamum area have increased over the normal and last year’s levels.

Commercial crops gain

Also, among the commercial crops, the area under cotton has more than doubled to over 2.40 lh over the normal of 1.18 lh. Sugarcane is up by 116 per cent at 4.55 lh over normal of 3.9 lh for the period. Similarly, the area under tobacco is also on the higher side at 0.74 lh.

The overall kharif acreage has more than doubled to over 33 lh over the normal of 15.39 lh for the period and almost a four-fold increase over 8.37 lh a year ago. Karnataka is targeting total kharif acreage of 82.48 lh for the current kharif cropping season.

Though the pre-monsoon rainfall was normal to excess across all the districts in the State, the rainfall has weakened during the last couple of weeks in June. As a result about seven of the 31 districts are showing a cumulative rainfall deficiency for the 2024 monsoon season. The State as a whole has reported 8 per cent surplus for the Jan 1-21 period.