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The Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) hopes mustard sowing will touch 95 lakh hectares (lh) by the end of the current season.
In a letter to members of the association on Thursday, Ajay Jhunjhunwala, President of SEA, said the above-normal rainfall and good sub-soil moisture, coupled with abundant water availability during the rabi season, have boosted therabi oilseeds coverage this year.
The total area under rabi crop was over 97.9 lh as on December 15. Of this, the area under rapeseed and mustard was almost 90 lh, compared to 83 lh during the same period last year. Looking at the progress of sowing, he said, he would not be surprised to see a record area under sowing, to surpass last year’s acreage of 91.6 lh. It may touch 95 lh by end of the sowing season, he said.
Model farm project
The association has also appointed RMSI Cropalytics to conduct an all-India study to identify the district/ area potential for expansion of mustard seed cultivation, the scope for raising productivity, crop estimation and a weather update. He said the initial report of RMSI Cropalytics indicates normal weather in most of the mustard crop growing area. “We can expect a record mustard crop,” Jhunjhunwala said.
SEA, in association with Solidaridad, has expanded the mustard model farm project to Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. This project currently covers over 65,000 farmers across the country.
He said around 1,300 mustard model farms have been established across Rajasthan (530), Madhya Pradesh (300), Punjab (234), and recently at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh (211). The Indian Council of Agricultural Research - Directorate of Rapeseed-Mustard Research - is engaged in providing technical knowledge support.
He said the departments of agriculture of the states are also engaged in this regard to ensure larger outreach of a mustard model farm project in different geographies.
“To expand the effort, recently, we had a joint meeting with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation at Delhi, and are happy to mention that they have positively responded to jointly working in Uttar Pradesh, and, may later expand to other states,” he said in the letter.
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