Pune, 24 June 2025: Favourable rainfall since May has significantly helped farmers across the Pune division kick off the kharif sowing season on time, despite initial challenges due to heavy pre-monsoon showers. So far, sowing has been completed on 4,51,507 hectares, covering about 36% of the division’s average cultivable area (12,56,439 hectares).

Farmers have mainly sown bajra (pearl millet), groundnut, soybean, green gram (moong), black gram (urad), cowpea, and peas. The sudden dry spell after continuous rains has helped fields achieve ‘vafsa’ (optimum soil moisture for sowing), boosting field work and seed drilling. In some places, farmers are also busy preparing the land with tillage and other pre-sowing activities.

District-wise sowing progress:

• Ahmednagar: 2,68,811 hectares

• Solapur: 1,43,533 hectares

• Pune: 39,163 hectares

In Ahmednagar, bajra and maize crops are at the germination stage, while pulses and cotton have also been sown successfully. In Akole taluka alone, about 1,831 hectares of paddy nurseries have been set up. Across Pune district, nearly 5,064 hectares are under paddy nurseries, mainly in Bhor, Velhe, Maval, Mulshi, Khed, Junnar, Ambegaon, and Akole talukas. However, due to the extended wet spell, paddy nursery work has been slightly delayed in a few pockets.

According to the agriculture department’s latest reports, the overall crop condition across the division remains satisfactory. Experts, however, warn that the excessive pre-monsoon rain did hamper proper land preparation in some regions, which could affect crop growth in the coming weeks.

Supporting the agricultural needs, the Khadakwasla dam chain — which supplies water to Pune city and surrounding areas — has recorded a combined live storage of 10.74 TMC, which is 36.83% of its capacity as of Monday evening (5 PM). On the same day, 1.64 TMC of water was discharged from the Khadakwasla spillway.

Last year on the same date, the combined storage in these dams was only 3.58 TMC (12.28%).