Spurt in wheat sowing pushes rabi area to 338 lakh
hectares
November 29,
2019
A spurt in wheat planting in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan
this week pushed up the overall rabi sowing in the country, with the total sown
area reaching 338.20 lakh hectares (lh), marginally lower than the 339.75 lh
planted in the corresponding week last year.
Farmers in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have planted wheat
in substantially larger areas than what was covered in the same week last year.
While wheat has been planted on 37.25 lh in Madhya Pradesh so far, against
28.75 lh in the same period last year, in Rajashtan, it has gone up to 18.28
lh, compared to 15.96 lh last year, showed rabi sowing data released by the
Agriculture Ministry on Friday. However, wheat planting has been marginally
lower in other major States such as Punjab and Uttar Pradesh while Haryana
maintained more or the less same levels as last year. The total wheat sown area
so far is 150.74 lh, up 6.72 per cent from the same week in the previous rabi
season.
However, there has been a 10 per cent reduction in pulses
sowing with both Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra reporting lesser coverage
compared to the previous rabi season. The pulses acreage has shrunk mainly
because of a drop in area under gram cultivation, which dropped by 10 per cent
to 61.5 lh till this week.
A little over 5 per cent reduction in mustard cultivation
has affected the overall oilseeds area. At 60.31 lh, the total oilseeds acreage
is 5 per cent lower than the same week last year. Coarse cereals, on the other
hand, reported a 5 per cent increase in area mainly because of a 10 per cent
increase in jowar sowing, reported mainly from Rajasthan.
Winter rice sowing, too, has picked up, with a significant
increase in sowing in Tamil Nadu. Rice sowing currently stands at 8.17 lh,
which is nearly 11 per cent higher than the 7.37 lh reported in the
corresponding week last year.
Storage level rises
Most of the major reservoirs in the country are maintaining
very good storage levels. The 120 major reservoirs monitored by the Central
Water Commission have reported a cumulative storage of 147.02 billion cubic
metre, which is 42 per cent more than that in the same week in the previous
year.
Source:https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/