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M.R. Subramani

Oilseeds sowing, so far, is the highest in three years at 44 lakh hectares, a rise of 12 lakh hectares over last year.

Chennai , Nov. 18

GOING by the current trends in rabi crop, the country appears to be heading for a good overall farm production this crop year. This follows an estimated 20 per cent increase in foodgrain production to 108.45 million tonnes this kharif season.

With adequate coverage of the south-west monsoon, its delayed withdrawal and prevailing of moderate temperature, conditions for rabi crops have been congenial, according to a Union Agriculture Ministry statement.

"The climate is good and there is sufficient moisture even after kharif harvest. This has resulted in farmers going in for higher coverage of rabi even without irrigation," Dr G.S. Kaushal, Director, Agriculture, Madhya Pradesh, told Business Line.

While higher price for oilseeds is encouraging diversion from other crops, there are reports of farmers going for inter-cropping encouraged by the favourable soil moisture and weather, according to Dr Kaushal.

As a result, farmers in Madhya Pradesh have gone in for intercropping of oilseeds such as mustard, sunflower and linseed with wheat and gram.

"This trend may be prevailing in other parts of the country also," agriculture experts say.

According to the Union Agriculture Ministry statement, so far, wheat sowing has taken place in nine lakh hectares (lh) against seven lh last year. The normal area expected to be covered under wheat is 264 lh. While the normal area under wheat in Uttar Pradesh is 91lh, in Madhya Pradesh it is 38 lh, in Punjab 34 lh and Haryana 23 lh.

"We are expecting the coverage of various crops under rabi in Madhya Pradesh to increase to 95 lh this year," said Dr. Kaushal. "This will definitely lead to better wheat production — more than 66 lakh tonnes recorded last year," he said.

Coarse cereals coverage has almost doubled to 4.4 lh during this season as against last year. Rabi pulses coverage is also up 11 lh to 24 lh with gram accounting for a major rise.

With good rains leading to a record crop of 142.4 lakh tonnes during the kharif season, the good returns are now encouraging farmers to go in for intensive sowing of oilseeds during rabi.

Oilseeds sowing, so far, is the highest in three years at 44 lh, a rise of 12 lh over last year. Mustard and rapeseed have accounted for a fair share of the increase, with the acreage rising 10 lh.

"Accelerated sowing has taken place in Rajasthan, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh," the Agriculture Ministry said.

Though there have been no reports of any major incidence of pests or disease, stray cases of woolly aphids on sugarcane in Maharashtra and Karnataka have been tackled, it said.

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