The Hindu Business Line : M.P., U.P. plantings help wheat area rise 5.1%

Progressive area under wheat is up 5.1 per cent this year on the back of aggressive planting by farmers in Madhya Pradesh (M.P.) and Uttar Pradesh (U.P.).

According to the Agriculture Ministry's latest review of rabi season sowing trends, so far 137.02 lakh hectares (lh) area has been planted under wheat this year, which is more than the 130.34 lh covered during this period last year.

Post-monsoon fallout

Much of this increase is on account of M.P., where farmers have stepped up the acreage from 15.24 lh to 25.04 lh. Even in U.P., wheat area has gone up from 32.81 lh to 34.80 lh. Both these States have received very good post-monsoon rains, which seems to have encouraged farmers to plant extra area and make up for the heavy losses suffered during the kharif season.

On the other hand, wheat area is either trailing or stagnant in the granary region of Punjab (28.01 lh versus 32.01 lh), Haryana (19.80 lh versus 19.80 lh) and Rajasthan (9.50 lh versus 10.60 lh). Cumulative sowing is also lower this time in Maharashtra (4.14 lh versus 4.29 lh) and Gujarat (3.71 lh versus 4.65 lh), while being marginally higher in Bihar (2.72 lh versus 2.47 lh) and Karnataka (2.52 lh versus 2.11 lh).

Pulses

Farmers in M.P. have also sown more area under rabi pulses such as gram (29.06 lh versus 22.26 lh), lentil (6.30 lh versus 4.92 lh), peas (2.54 lh versus 2.22 lh) and rapeseed-mustard (8.73 lh versus 7.30 lh). U.P., too, has similarly reported expanded acreages under rapeseed-mustard (13.36 lh versus 8.26 lh), lentil (6.25 lh versus 5.70 lh) and barley (1.04 lh versus 0.41 lh), while recording small declines for gram (8.06 lh versus 8.40 lh) and peas (3.42 lh versus 4.36 lh). In fact, if one leaves out U.P. and M.P., the overall coverage of rabi crops so far this year would work out lower than the area sown in the corresponding period of last year.

Mustard/rapeseed

This is especially apparent in Rajasthan, which is the country's main rapeseed-mustard growing State.

This time, farmers there have sown only 22.59 lh under the crop, against last year's progressive acreage of 27.25 lh. Rajasthan has also seen a decline in area under gram (4.57 lh versus 7.26 lh) and barley (1.82 lh versus 2.31 lh).

Another State that has witnessed lower rabi sowing activity so far is Karnataka, where area has fallen in sunflower (3.34 lh versus 5.02 lh), safflower (0.59 lh versus 0.61 lh), gram (4.53 lh versus 6.18 lh) and jowar (10.41 lh versus 11.48 lh). Maharashtra, too, has reported declines under jowar (28.18 lh versus 32.04 lh), gram (7.12 lh versus 7.38 lh) and safflower (1.672 lh versus 1.78 lh).

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