NEW DELHI: In what could be a good signal to farm sector and overall economy, total sown area under Kharif (summer) crops crossed the last year’s corresponding period figures for the first time during the ongoing sowing operation on Friday - thanks to the pace it got after good rains in deficit areas of eastern and north-eastern India in past two weeks.Latest sowing data, released by the agriculture ministry, shows that the increase in sown area as compared to last year is marked by higher acreage of paddy (rice) and oilseeds Though the acreage of pulses and coarse cereals continue to be less than the last year’s corresponding sown area figures, officials believe that the acreage of these crops too will improve as farmers still have two to three weeks of sowing operation this season.Figures show that the total sown area under Kharif crops stand at 1,041.65 lakh hectares (LH) as on Friday as compared to 1,039.57 LH at this time last year.“It’s a good sign as it remained subdued in first two months of this season due to poor rains in eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and most of the north-eastern states - mainly the paddy growing area,” said an official who has been tracking the development.Since adequate acreage is crucial for good production of foodgrains and non-cereal crops like oilseeds, the higher sown area is seen as a positive development.“It’s important as we are looking at new record of foodgrain production in 2018-19 crop year (July-June) after reporting two consecutive years of record production in 2016-17 and 2017-18. High production boosts rural demand and this, in turn, drives overall economy,” said the official.Though the country as a whole reported 7% deficit in cumulative rainfall during June 1 - September 5 period, the deficit in central and north-west India was not that big during the period.In fact, the distribution of rainfall saw most of the country’s major reservoirs got adequate water during the period. It’ll help sowing of irrigation-backed winter crops (Rabi) during November-February period, making it a good crop year in terms of overall production.Figures, released by the Central Water Commission (CWC), show that the water storage in 91 major reservoirs of the country for the assessment week ending on Thursday was 119 billion cubic meter (BCM) which was 130% of the storage of corresponding period of last year and 114% of storage of average of last ten years.Reservoirs in many states including Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu have better storage than last year for corresponding period.