NEW DELHI: Union Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said on Wednesday that barring in parts of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Jharkhand, where rainfall was deficient by more than 50 per cent, the "prospects" of kharif sowing in terms of area coverage and production appeared "bright."

The deficiency impacted the coverage of oilseeds and pulses, which were being imported now. Parts of the flood-affected Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh were being re-sown.

Deficient rain

Monsoon rains have been deficient and between 20 and 49 per cent in Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura (-49 per cent), Jharkhand (-47 per cent), Assam and Meghalaya (-31 per cent), Bihar (-29 per cent), coastal Andhra Pradesh (-26 per cent), and Marathwada (-20 per cent).

After a review of the sowing operations in the 11 States where the monsoon was delayed, Mr. Pawar said the position was "comfortable." The sowing of paddy was comfortable although that of oilseeds, pulses and cotton was lagging in comparison to last year. However, there was "near-certainty" that the area under kharif would equal and even exceed last year's coverage.

The area under coarse cereals, sugarcane and jute was higher than last year. The area under cotton was 51.58 lakh hectares (59.81 lakh hectares) and coarse cereals 122.25 lakh hectares (116.51 lakh hectares). The area under sugarcane was 40.85 lakh hectares (37.49 lakh hectares) and jute 7.88 lakh hectares (7.69 lakh hectares).

As against the requirement of 51.60 lakh quintals of seeds, the availability was 67.40 lakh quintals. Adequate quantity was available to meet the re-plantation requirements of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. An additional quantity of paddy and urad seeds had been made available to Madhya Pradesh. To meet the contingency needs, 1.6 lakh quintals was available in seed banks, and no shortage of fertilizers was anticipated.

The credit flow to the agriculture sector from April to May was Rs. 19,182.15 crores as against Rs. 16,305 crores during the corresponding period last year. Ruling out further imports of raw sugar, Mr. Pawar conceded that sugar prices were higher than last year but maintained that they were below Rs. 20 a kg.

The wholesale price index-based inflation rate decreased by 0.05 per cent and reached 4.09 per cent for the week ended July 2. The inflation rate was 7.08 per cent during the corresponding period last year, he said.

The production of rabi wheat for 2004-05 was likely to be 72 million tonnes and rice 87.1 million tonnes. On July 1, there was an estimated stock of 14.5 million tonnes of wheat and 10 million tonnes of rice, including unmilled paddy. Last year, wheat stock on July 1 was 19.1 million tonnes and rice 10.7 million tonnes.

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