Gujarat Kharif Acreage Likely To Touch 90 Lakh Hectares - June 23, 2008

The Gujarat government is planning to bring around 9 million hectares under cultivation for various crops this season (June-September). Last year, 8.9 million hectares were under Kharif cultivation. Additionally, kharif production is expected go up by 5 per cent. Around 10 per cent of sowing is over mainly in Kutch and Saurashtra regions of the state.

The average acreage and production of food grains in Gujarat over the last three year comes to around 3.38 million hectares and 6.11 million tonnes (MT) respectively. As compared to this, the state authorities have aimed at a higher target of foodgrain acreage and production this Kharif season at 3.42 million hectares and 6.66 million tonne. Similarly, area to be brought under pulses cultivation is estimated to rise to 0.99 million hectares during Kharif 2008-09 as against the average acreage of 0.84 million hectares, while the state government targets around 0.7 million tonnes of pulses production, up from 0.65 million tonne last Kharif season, the source said.

Area to be brought under oilseed crops is targeted at 3.34 million hectares and its production at 4.71 million tonnes. The average acreage and production of oilseeds in Gujarat has been 2.93 million hectares and 4.14 million tonnes respectively over the last three years. Government expects area under groundnut crop is likely to be higher at 1.85 million hectares than average of 1.77 lakh hectares. Similarly, the production target has also been kept at 2.75 million MT this Kharif season as against the average production of 2.64 million MT. The target of cotton crop area shows that around 2.24 million hectares are likely to witness cotton sowing while the average acr