NEW DELHI: (PTI) The government on Friday said overall rainfall in the country is pleasant so far this season and hoped that farmers would turn the situation to their advantage.
"Overall monsoon has been pleasant and hopefully it will benefit us," Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said after a Cabinet meeting here.
A good monsoon is very crucial to the world's second-fastest growing economy, as about 60 per cent of its population still depends on agriculture for livelihood. The sector contributes about 18 per cent to the overall gross domestic product of the country.
The monsoon is important for kharif crops like paddy, tur, urad, soyabean, groundnut, sugarcane and cotton. Though earlier, low rainfall in some parts of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh had impacted areas under some crops, particularly cotton, sugarcane and pulses, but the revival of monsoon is likely to boost the acreage situation.
According to the official data, except the paddy sowing in the on-going kharif season, which rose to 251.1 lakh hectares till August 7 against 234.6 LH in the year-ago period, areas under pulses declined to 78.4 LH from 93.2 LH in the same period last year.
Cotton and sugarcane acreage has taken a hit due to abnormal monsoon in certain areas.
Areas under cotton dipped to 80.8 LH against 90.4 LH in the corresponding period last year, with major crisis being noticed in Maharashtra.
Similarly, sugarcane acreage declined to 44.1 LH, compared with 53 LH in the year-ago period.
However, an official statement said gaps in certain crop acreages are fast bridging due to rainfall in many parts of the country.
सदस्यता लें
टिप्पणियाँ भेजें (Atom)
कोई टिप्पणी नहीं:
एक टिप्पणी भेजें