Sowing of oilseeds and coarse cereals witnessed a slump even though the total area under cultivation went up marginally to 943.45 lakh hectares (ha) this week as compared to the corresponding period last year, an official release said on Friday.

The total cultivated area during the same period last year was 936.95 lakh ha.

Farmers chose to plant oilseeds over a smaller area as the prices of soybean and groundnut were down, while deficient rains in Karnataka brought down the area under ragi and maize cultivation.

The total area under oilseeds so far is 154.29 lakh ha as compared to the previous year’s 171.15 lakh ha. Coarse cereals, on the other hand, were marginally down at 167.50 lakh ha from 169.98 lakh ha in the corresponding week last year.

The area under groundnut and soybean was over 13 per cent and 9 per cent lower, respectively, compared to last year.

However, there has been a substantial increase in the area under paddy cultivation since last week. It rose by 40 lakh ha to 320.20 lakh ha. Paddy acreage was 7 lakh ha more than normal for the week in Bihar, while the increase was 4.34 lakh ha in Jharkhand, the release said. Paddy acreage is 2 per cent more than last year and 7.26 per cent more than normal for the week.

Pulses see a drop The acreage under pulses is slightly lower, at 127.48 lakh ha, as against 129.59 lakh ha during the same period last year. At 117.11 lakh ha, the area under cotton cultivation, on the other hand, registered a substantial 18 per cent increase over the same period last year.

The area under arhar cultivation, which witnessed a major dip in prices, shrank by 19 per cent while that under urad rose 21 per cent by the end of the week in comparison with the same period last year.

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