Kharif sowing crosses 968 lakh hectare mark

NEW DELHI: As per the latest data received from all over the country, 91% of the normal area for full kharif season has already been sown. On Friday, 968.48 lakh hectare area has been sown while the normal area for full season is 1068.10 lakh hectare.

The total sown area (968.48 lakh hectare) is 107.84% of the area sown at this time last year (898.05 lakh ha).

Area under rice has touched 324.73 lakh hectare compared to 315.43 lakh hectare in the previous year. This is expected to increase hope of a bumper rice crop this year.

Sowing of maize has crossed the normal sowing area for the full season. Normal area for maize is 71.48 lakh hectare while this week total area sown under maize is 80.06 lakh hectare .

Sowing of soyabean has crossed the normal sowing area. Normal sowing area of soyabean is 95.70 lakh hectare which increased to 121.81 lakh hectare this week.

Sugarcane sowing has crosses the normal sowing area which is 47.13 lakh hectare this week 48.53 lakh hectare area sown under sugarcane.

The details of the area covered so far and that covered during this time last year are given lakh hectare:

Crop (Lakh hectare)	Area sown in 2013-14	Area sown in 2012-13
Rice	324.73	315.43
Pulses	99.63	85.32
Coarse Cereals	189.35	165.34
Oilseeds	186.60	162.02
Sugarcane	48.53	50.06
Cotton	111.34	111.53
Jute & Mesta	8.31	8.36
Total	968.48	898.05