Area under major kharif crops rice, cotton down

NEW DELHI: Area under major kharif crops like rice, oilseeds, cotton and pulses have declined in the current kharif season so far, according to the government data.

However, crop area under sugarcane and jute/mesta has risen in the same period.

Area under rice, a major kharif crop, has gone down by almost 8 per cent to 19.09 lakh hectares in 2011-12 kharif season so far compared to 20.72 lakh hectares in the year-ago period.

Less area is reported mainly in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa, according to the data.

However, in sugarcane -- another major kharif crop -- sowing area has increased by about five per cent to 50.94 lakh hectares in the current season as against 48.71 lakh hectares in the same period of the previous year.

In sugarcane, higher area was reported from Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat and less area was reported in Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh.

Sowing area under pulses have registered a fall of about 8 per cent to 3.77 lakh hectares in 2011-12 kharif season compared to 4.09 lakh hectares in the year-ago period.

Similarly, area under oilseeds cultivation has declined by 36 per cent to 7.43 lakh hectares so far in the current season against 11.69 hectares in the same period last year.

Likewise, cotton sowing area has been down by almost five per cent to 26.22 lakh hectares as against 27.53 lakh hectres in the period under review.