The Hindu Business Line : Wheat, jowar coverage up — Rabi sowing still lagging behind

DESPITE acceleration in sowing of rabi crops, acreage of all crops, barring wheat and jowar, continues to be lower compared with the same period last year.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, moderate temperature in North India provides congenial conditions for rabi crops and sowing has picked up.

"Wheat sowing has gathered momentum with average temperature descending to 25 degrees Celsius," it said in a statement.

Wheat sowing has commenced in Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh in particular. So far, 31 lakh hectares (lh) have been covered with 23 lh being covered in Punjab, where the acreage has increased by seven lh. This means, wheat sowing is lagging behind in other States. Rice sowing has also begun in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Bihar with the area being 0.44 lh (0.80 lh).

The area under coarse cereals continues to lag with 32.3 lh being covered (40.4 lh). Of this, jowar sowing is up marginally by 0.5 lh at 39.2 lh. However, maize area is down by 0.2 lh at 12.1 lh.

Among pulses, gram coverage is down four lh at 20 lh, while that of other pulses has slid to 12.6 lh (16.9 lh).

Oilseeds sowing is also witnessing a downtrend with the area declining to 51 lh (58 lh). Coverage of mustard/rapeseed, which was up last week, has slid this week to 36 lh (39 lh). Area under other oilseeds such safflower, groundnut, sunflower is down at 14 lh (19 lh).

One encouraging factor is the level in 71 reservoirs in the country. It is 131.22 billion cubic metres or 62 per cent of the full reservoir level and compared with the storage last year, it is up by five percentage points.

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