Pulses, wheat and oilseeds sowing in the on-going rabi season have picked up pace and out-stripped average acreage of the previous five years, as per the Agriculture Ministry’s latest sowing data (till December 23) circulated on Friday.
Sowing of rice and coarse cereals, however, remain lower than the average acreage in the previous five years (normal of the corresponding week).
Total sowing of all the five rabi crops so far at 554.91 lakh hectares (lh) is about 1.65 per cent higher than the normal average of the corresponding week at 545.87 lh, but 6 per cent higher than the total acreage in the same period of the previous drought year which was at 523.4 lh.
About 278.62 lh area coverage under wheat has been reported compared to the normal area of corresponding week of 274.66 lh. Higher acreage of wheat so far has been reported from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Bihar among others.
Pulses have been sown over an area of 138.22 lh so far — higher than sowing in the normal area of the corresponding week at 128.87 lh. States where sowing increased include Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand while those where it has gone down include Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.
Oilseeds acreage at 78.08 lh so far is higher than the normal average of the corresponding week at 76.53 lh. Acreage under rice at 9.33 lh so far is much lower than the normal of corresponding week at 13.41 lh. Coverage under coarse cereals has also gone down to 50.63 lh (52.39 lh).
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