The Hindu Business Line : Area under most rabi crops shows a rise

Promising
Wheat acreage up in U.P., Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan & Bihar.
Mustard/rapeseed sowing shows rise in Rajasthan, U.P., M.P., Gujarat & Maharashtra.
Sowing of gram has increased in M.P., Rajasthan, U.P. & Karnataka.

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Dec. 26 Farmers have planted more area under wheat, rapeseed-mustard, gram and most other rabi crops this year compared with the previous season. This is expected to further ease inflationary pressures in the economy ahead of the Parliament elections due in the next 3-4 months.

According to the Agriculture Ministry’s latest Crop Weather Watch Report, released here on Friday, wheat has been sown so far on 250.43 lakh hectares (lh), against 244.34 lh covered during the same period last year.

Acreages have gone up in Uttar Pradesh (from 80.38 lh to 85.01 lh), Punjab (34.80 to 34.83), Haryana (24.65 to 24.80), Rajasthan (20.30 to 21.10) and Bihar (15.08 to 17.30), while trailing behind in Madhya Pradesh (32.24 to 32.16), Gujarat (12.82 to 10.97) and Maharashtra (9.79 to 8.41).

If current trends hold and no abnormal rise in temperatures take place in March, there is every possibility of the 2008-08 wheat crop even surpassing last year’s record 78.40 million tonnes (mt).

In rapeseed-mustard, 2007-08 saw output falling to a dismal 5.80 mt, following the preceding two years’ bumper levels of 7.44 mt and 8.13 mt, respectively.

But this year, buoyed by good price realisations, farmers have till now brought 65.18 lh under the crop, compared to the 58.11 lh covered in the corresponding period of 2007-08.

Area has risen in Rajasthan (23.69 lh to 27.66 lh), Uttar Pradesh (7.85 to 8.77), Madhya Pradesh (6.70 to 7.91), Haryana (4.99 to 6.25) and West Bengal (4.25 to 4.35), while dipping marginally in Gujarat (3.39 to 2.94).

Likewise, progressive sowing of gram has increased from 71.55 lh to 78.42 lh this year, led by Madhya Pradesh (from 23.05 lh to 27.02 lh), Rajasthan (12.84 to 12.99), Uttar Pradesh (6.02 to 8.59), and Karnataka (6.97 to 8.41).

However, lower acreages have been reported from Maharashtra (11.55 to 10.28) and Andhra Pradesh (6.25 to 6.15).

Acreages are higher relative to last year for the bulk of other rabi cereals (maize, jowar, barley), oilseeds (sunflower, groundnut, sesamum) and pulses (lentil, peas, lathyrus).

The only major exceptions are urad, moong and lathyrus.

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