Kharif sowing area 21 lakh hectares less than last year

India's kharif sowing area has reached 1,016.57 lakh hectares as of August 14, compared to 1,037.52 lakh hectares a year ago, a deficit of about 21 lakh hectares, according to the Agriculture Ministry's weekly update. The overall deficit has narrowed to less than 1% from 1.8% on August 7, but the pace of sowing slowed in the week to August 14 as monsoon rainfall turned 22% deficient. Paddy transplanting is down 3.7% at 379.07 lakh hectares, though the gap has narrowed from 4.4% last week.

Reservoir storage across India has also improved but remains below last year's levels. Live storage in 166 monitored reservoirs stood at 109.11 billion cubic metres (BCM), or 59.4% of capacity, as of August 13, which is 19.6% below the 135.64 BCM recorded a year earlier, the Central Water Commission data shows. The gap has narrowed from 39.2% below last year's level on July 16. Only the western region has storage above last year's level, at 78.78% of capacity.

Experts say the focus should now shift from acreage to crop performance and yield, as the remainder of the monsoon will be critical. The India Meteorological Department has forecast less than 94% of normal rainfall for the second half of the season. The government has set a kharif production target of 176.16 million tonnes of foodgrains, including 123.15 million tonnes of rice.