Despite early onset of monsoon, sowing sluggish in Gujarat

The comparatively slow speed of sowing is despite the southwest monsoon hitting the state on June 11, four days earlier than its normal date of advent. “Monsoon did indeed hit south Gujarat on June 11. But it remained sluggish for the next 10 days. The state as a whole started receiving rainfall only from June 23. Hence, the sowing has been sluggish compared to the previous Kharif season,” a DAG official told The Indian Express.

Incidentally, districts falling in the central and eastern part of Gujarat registered a 15 per cent deficit in June rainfall. Officials said this has reflected on the sowing trend as well.

The 40.26 lh area sown so far represents 47 per cent of the previous three years’ average of 85.58 lh in Kharif season.

Though farmers are still complaining about the comparatively low market price of cotton in the 2023-24 marketing season, this natural fibre crop is a favourite of cultivators this year also, data suggested.

Of the 40.26 lh sown so far, cotton accounts for 18.60 lh or about 46 per cent of net area sown. It represents 74.57 per cent of the previous three years’ average cotton area of 24.96 lh but lower when compared to 23.75 lh sowed during the corresponding period last year. In the 2023 Kharif season, farmers had sown cotton in 26.82 lh.

Cotton and groundnut are the main cash crops sown during Kharif season in Gujarat.

However, many farmers are holding on to their cotton harvested in 2023-24, as market prices have hovered around Rs 7,000 per quintal when compared to the average Rs 8,500 in the 2022-23 marketing season and more than Rs 10,000 towards the fag end of the 2021-22 marketing season.

“These are initial sowing trends. It is too early to predict a defined change in trend at this stage. As the state has received good rainfall from June 23, sowing of most Kharif crops, save castor and paddy, among others, should be over in the next fortnight and the picture will become clear after that,” said the official.

“There is a lag of around a week in actual sowing and its reporting and July 8 data should be read with this caveat,” the official added.

Meanwhile, groundnut sowing has been completed in 14 lh, which is 80 per cent of the previous three years’ total average acreage of 17.51 lh. At this time the previous year. groundnut sowing had been completed in 15.23 lh.

Market prices of groundnut, too, hovered around Rs 6,000 per quintal in the 2023-24 marketing season though the government has jacked up the minimum support price of this oilseed crop to Rs 6,783 this year from Rs 6,377 the previous year.

Soybean is the other cash crop whose acreage this season has already crossed one lakh hectare mark and stood at 1.56 lh or 66 per cent of average 2.36 lh, data showed.