major kharif crops-- cotton, soyabean, paddy, and tur. The six districts in region have seen an overall decrease in soyabean area, but increase cotton will compensate for it. The yields in all these crops of course will be 30-35% less than in the best seasons. The state agriculture department says that unusually heavy rains in late September and October made a difference. They are also expected to give help forthcoming rabi season as the soil now has enough moisture for wheat and gram crops.
Speaking to the TOI, J C Bhutada, joint director agriculture, Nagpur division ( Nagpur, Wardha, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Bhandara, Gondia) said "Against the general belief that heavy rains at the fag end of monsoon would be dangerous to standing cotton and soyabean crops, the rains actually saved them. If these rains had not come, the farmers would have suffered a great loss. All kharif crops had given good output in 2007-08 and this year the total production is likely to be nearly the same,'' he said.
Bhutada said the first phase of cotton picking had already started in some areas and was likely to continue till December. Luckily, despite erratic rainfall and pest attack, the per hectare crop output was not severely affected as farmers took preventive measures and sprayed at right time. The overall cotton production may reach about 420 lakh bales in the division which is almost equal to 2007-08 figures. This is due to an increased area under cotton and a decrease in soyabean area. This year, agains an expected 2.17 lakh hectares, cotton area increased to 2.71 lakh hectares. Area under soyabean decreased from an expected 6.9 lakh ha to 6.3 lakh ha. Soyabean may give about 650 to 700 kgs per ha yield which in 2007-08 was a whopping 1350 kg/ha. Tur or pigeon pea this year could be particularly good and may give the same output as 2007-08 at 850 kg/ha. Only paddy production could be 30-40% less. Paddy and tur area also decreased from 7.4 lakh ha to 6.8 lakh ha and 1.93 lakh ha to 1.7 lakh ha respectively.
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