The Hindu Business Line : Drop continues in oilseed sowing; pulses acreage up

Farmers have sown an additional 13.5 lakh hectares (lh) under wheat so far this year. As on November 30, the total progressive area under wheat, at 154.21 lh, stood 9.6 per cent higher than the corresponding last year's coverage of 140.68 lh.

Wheat sowing areas

All the major wheat sowing States, barring Uttar Pradesh (UP), have reported higher cumulative acreages over the previous year. They include Punjab (29.42 lh versus 27.59 lh), Haryana (20.25 lh vs 17.50 lh), Madhya Pradesh (27.21 lh vs 21.54 lh), Rajasthan (12.95 lh vs 8.98 lh), Maharashtra (5.97 lh vs 5.36 lh), Gujarat (5.91 lh vs 3.54 lh), Bihar (3.92 lh vs 0.95 lh) and Karnataka (2.31 lh vs 1.83 lh).

Sugarcane

In UP, the total area, at 41.20 lh, is lagging behind last year's progressive level of 46.42 lh. The reason for this may be the delayed harvesting of sugarcane by farmers. With sugar mills starting crushing operations only from November, a month behind last year, farmers have not been able to vacate their fields early enough for planting wheat. The picture may change by the next week or so.

Others

But as of now, wheat sowing has almost covered 60 per cent of the normal area of 260.50 lh. There has been a marginal increase in area under rabi maize (from 5.49 lh to 6.48 lh) and rabi rice (from 3.66 lh to 4.25 lh) as well, while declining from 46.08 lh to 45.17 lh for jowar (sorghum).

On the other hand, there has been a significant drop in the area sown under all rabi oilseeds, led by rapeseed-mustard.

Pulses acreage has gone up somewhat mainly on account of chana (chickpea or Bengal gram). Farmers have basically diverted rapeseed-mustard area to chana in Madhya Pradesh and to wheat in Haryana.

More Stories on : Agriculture | Cultivation | Pulses | Oilseeds & Edible Oil

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