The Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, is taking several measures to facilitate the farmers and farming activities at field level during Covid-19 pandemic.

 

There has been satisfactory progress of sowing area coverage under Kharif crops, the status of which is given as under:

 

Sowing Area Coverage of Kharif Crops: as on July 31, 2020, the total Kharif crops has been sown on 882.18 lakh ha area against 774.38 lakh ha area during the corresponding period of last year, thus, increase in area coverage by 13.92% compared to last year in the country. The crop wise area sown is as under:

 

Rice: About 266.60 lakh ha area coverage under rice as compared to 223.96 lakh ha. during the corresponding period of last year.

Pulses: About 111.91 lakh ha area coverage under pulses as compared to 93.84 lakh ha. during the corresponding period of last year.

Coarse Cereals: About 148.34 lakh ha area coverage under coarse cereals as compared to 139.26 lakh ha. during the corresponding period of last year.

Oilseeds: About 175.34 lakh ha area coverage under oilseeds as compared to 150.12 lakh ha. during the corresponding period of last year.

Sugarcane: About 51.78 lakh ha area coverage under sugarcane as compared to 51.20 lakh ha. during the corresponding period of last year.

So, as a whole, there is no impact of Covid-19 on progress of area coverage under Kharif crops as on date.

 

As on July 30, 2020, actual rainfall received in the country is 447.1 mm against normal of 443.3 mm i.e. departure of (+)1% during the period from June 1, 2020, to July 30, 2020. Central Water Commission (CWC) has reported that the live water storage in 123 reservoirs in different parts of the country is 141% of the corresponding period of the last year.