The Hindu Business Line : Wheat coverage tops 200 lakh hectares

Wheat sowing has crossed the 200-lakh hectares (lh) mark within the first week of December. As on Friday, a total 207.44 lh is reported to have been covered under the crop, which is a whopping 22.5 per cent more than the corresponding last year's area of 169.27 lh.

All-round rise

All the major wheat-growing States have reported significantly higher cumulative acreages over the previous year.

They include Uttar Pradesh (67.82 lh vs 49.42 lh), Punjab (31.91 lh vs 31.54 lh), Haryana (22.75 lh vs 20.50 lh), Madhya Pradesh (32.45 lh vs 26.60 lh), Rajasthan (17.76 lh vs 14.95 lh), Gujarat (8.19 lh vs 5.80 lh), Maharashtra (7.41 lh vs 5.97 lh), Bihar (8.34 lh vs 4.46 lh), Uttaranchal (2.51 lh vs 2.46 lh) and Karnataka (2.31 lh vs 1.83 lh).

The massive jump in planted area is mainly a reflection of robust open market prices, which has also enthused farmers to go in for early sowing. In fact, nearly 80 per cent of the normal area of 260.50 lh has already been covered, as against the normal pattern where sowing operations stretch right up to early-January.

Early sowing

The high proportion of early sowing this time would enable the crop to grow to its full maturity of 120-145 days. Wheat is normally harvested from the middle of March, when temperatures start rising and grain-filling is completed. But a crucial factor now is the weather. Currently, the minimum temperatures are ruling 6-7 degrees celsius above normal in the main wheat belt, which is not a good sign. Also, there have been no rains, which is important for winter to fully set in.

Maize area up

There has also been an increase in area under rabi maize (from 5.71 lh to 6.85 lh) and rabi rice (from 4.09 lh to 5.12 lh), while declining from 46.35 lh to 45.42 lh for jowar (sorghum).

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

Pulses area is marginally higher because of chana (chickpea).

Farmers have basically diverted rapeseed-mustard area to chana in Madhya Pradesh and to wheat in Haryana.