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<\/p>\nThe area under paddy — the biggest foodgrain during the kharif season — was almost 13 per cent lower in the week ended August 5 as compared to the same period last year despite a slight pick-up in rains in the main growing regions, triggering fears of a 10-12 million-tonne drop in final output.<\/p>\n
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Sources said with the peak sowing season for paddy almost coming to an end in the big-growing states, any uptick in coverage from here onwards may not give the desired yields.<\/p>\n
With 30 per cent of normal average area in which paddy is grown every year remaining unsown till early August, there is a limited chance of a big uptick in output, trade and market sources said.<\/p>\n
In the previous kharif season, India produced over 111 million tonnes of rice.<\/p>\n
In several states, farmers have already moved on to other short-duration crops such as pulses and coarse cereals abandoning paddy.<\/p>\n
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), between June 1 and August 8, the southwest monsoon is around 7 per cent more than normal (cumulatively across the country).<\/p>\n
However, in major paddy-growing states of UP (-40 per cent), West Bengal (-25 per cent), Jharkhand (-48 per cent), Bihar (-35 per cent) and Odisha (-9 per cent), the rains are woefully short.<\/p>\n
Together, the five states account for more than 40 per cent of India’s total annual rice production, estimated to be over 120 million tonnes.<\/p>\n
Less paddy acreage has been reported from West Bengal (1.2 million hectares), Jharkhand (0.93 million hectares), Bihar (0.48 million hectares) and Chhattisgarh (0.43 million hectares).<\/p>\n
The situation is similar in Uttar Pradesh (0.38 million hectares), Madhya Pradesh (0.37 million hectares), Odisha (0.35 million hectares) and Telangana (0.28 million hectares).<\/p>\n
India, the world’s second-largest producer and top exporter of rice, commands a 40 per cent share in global rice trade.<\/p>\n
It exported 21.2 million tonnes of rice in 2021-22, of which 3.94 million tonnes was the basmati variety.<\/p>\n
The weekly data also showed that apart from paddy, area sown under pulses is down marginally to 11.64 million hectares down from 11.94 million hectares.<\/p>\n
However, the acreage under coarse cereals, oilseeds, cotton, sugarcane and jute as well as mesta is higher till August 5, 2022, as compared to last year.<\/p>\n
For most crops, the sowing is almost over.<\/p>\n
Data showed that the acreage of coarse cereals increased to 16.03 million hectares up from 15.44 million hectares.<\/p>\n
Oilseeds sowing area was up at 17.47 million hectares till August 8, from 17.38 million hectares last year.<\/p>\n
Cotton sowing increased to 12.12 million hectares, up from 11.35 million hectares.<\/p>\n
Total area under coverage for all kharif crops was down at 90.86 million hectares till August 5, against 93.66 million hectares during the same period last year.<\/p>\n
On the back of bumper production and high procurement in the last few years, the Centre is sitting on a stock of 47 million tonnes of rice (including rice equivalent of unmilled paddy) as on July 1.<\/p>\n
This is against the buffer norm of 13.5 million tonnes.<\/p>\n
The Centre can use rice from its own godowns to intervene in the market, in case of price rise.<\/p>\n
Already, the Centre is supplying more rice instead of wheat through ration shops.<\/p>\n
This is because its procurement of wheat fell sharply to 19 million tonnes this year from 43 million tonnes last year.<\/p>\n
Armed with high levels of stock in the central pool, the government is providing rice at Rs 3 per kg under the food law and free of cost under the Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) to around 800 million people, incurring huge amounts of subsidy.<\/p>\n
The PMGKAY is valid till September and it will be interesting to see whether the government further extends it or not, given the tight stock situation in wheat.<\/p>\n