After rice, cereals and pulses could get pricier

• Rainfall has been uneven and erratic geographically this season.
• While the India Meteorological Department had predicted normal rainfall in the second half of the South-West monsoon season, Bank of Baroda’s recent report says that the second half will also be erratic and there will be wide regional disparities in the distribution of rainfall.
• This has led to erratic sowing patterns and the acreage of pulses like Urad, Moong, Arhar and oil seeds and rice is much lower compared to last year's levels.

After rice, pulses like Urad, Moong and Arhar might get pricier this year as low rainfall has affected agriculture-dependent states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Kerala.

Rainfall deficiency has led to a shift in sowing patterns, affecting India’s overall agriculture output. According to a recent report by Bank of Baroda, the area under sowing for pulses such as Urad, Moong, Arhar has declined this year.

Acreage for rice, cereals, oilseeds and sugarcane also continues to remain low compared with last year's levels.

On the other hand, farmers are giving more space to cotton – its acreage has improved further to 6% in August from 5.3% a year earlier.

Food commodity	Area sown in 2022-23 (million hectares)	Area sown in 2021-22 (million hectares)	Growth (YoY) %
Cereals	47.6	51.5	-7.5
Rice	31.0	35.4	-12.4
Pulses	12.6	13.3	-5.3
Oilseeds	18.4	18.2	-1.3
Cotton	12.3	11.6	-6.0
Jute and Mesta	0.7	0.7	0

Source: CEIC, Bank of Baroda - data as of 12 August 2022

Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Kerala are among the deficient zones

India’s cumulative rainfall is 8% above the long period average (LPA) as of 19 August, however, the report says, “it seems the second half will also be erratic and there will be wide regional disparities seen with respect to the distribution of rainfall.”



The Eastern region continues to receive scanty rainfall.