Kharif sowing in East Vidarbha has covered 58.55% of the targeted area so far this season, with the delayed monsoon slowing overall progress, agriculture officials said. Paddy, the region’s dominant crop, has taken the sharpest hit, with transplantation completed on only 22% of the targeted area.
Across the six eastern Vidarbha districts — Wardha, Nagpur, Bhandara, Gondia, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli — farmers grow cotton, soybean, paddy, tur, maize, bajra, jowar, sesame and sugarcane during kharif. Except for paddy, sowing of all other crops was largely completed by July 15.
As of July 16, sowing stood highest in Wardha at 69.03%, followed by Chandrapur at 67.64% and Nagpur at 67.19%.
Against a target of 8 lakh hectares for paddy transplantation this season, only 1.71 lakh hectares — about 21.4% — had been covered by July 16. Nagpur district led with 38,577 hectares, followed by Bhandara (28,639.3), Gondia (22,409.1), Chandrapur (6,833.62) and Gadchiroli (5,419.9) hectares.
In paddy-heavy Bhandara, Gondia and Gadchiroli, transplantation stood at 15.30%, 13.91% and 64.20% respectively. Rain over the weekend is expected to accelerate transplantation.
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