Kharif area up 9% on year at 3.5 mln hectare in Telangana

The area under the kharif crop in Telangana was up 9% at 3.5 mln ha as of Wednesday, against 3.2 mln ha a year ago, according to data from the state's agriculture department. So far, acreage of the kharif crop in the state is at 81% of the season's normal of 4.3 mln ha.

The area under key kharif pulses such as groundnut, tur and urad was up as the government announced a bonus on the procurement of crops, over and above the minimum support price, for the 2016-17 marketing year starting October.

The minimum support price for groundnut was raised by 100 rupees per 100 kg to 4,120 rupees. The hike in minimum support price for urad and tur by 425 rupees per 100 kg each to 4,575 rupees and 4,625 rupees, respectively, also boosted the area under pulses.

The area under groundnut in the state rose sharply to 15,272 ha as of Wednesday from 5,271 ha a year ago, the data showed.

Tur acreage was at 423,883 ha, up 99.4% from a year ago, and urad was sown over 46,128 ha as of Wednesday, up 72% on year.

Maize acreage was at 573,739 ha, up from 396,350 ha a year ago, and the area under sugarcane was down 50.1% on year.

Moong acreage rose to 148,628 ha as of Wednesday from 104,042 ha a year ago, and cotton acreage fell 26% on year to 1.2 mln ha.

According to data from the India Meteorological Department, Telangana received 496.8 mm rainfall during Jun 1-Aug 24, 10% below normal.