The total area sown under rabi crops as on January 1 stood at 541.12 lakh hectares (lh) – lower than 567.63 lh last year, according to preliminary reports received from the States.
Among the crops that failed to pick up pace are wheat, which was sown on 271.46 lh(293.16 lh) and pulses which were sown on 128.24 lh (131.33 lh), an Agriculture Ministry release said.
Oilseeds, too, were sown on a lower area of 71.47 lh against last year’s 76.11 lh, while rice was transplanted on 14.77 lh (16.05 lh). However, the area under coarse cereals rose to 55.19 lh (50.97 lh).
Meanwhile, highlighting his Ministry’s achievements here at a press conference, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said productivity and production can only be improved if land quality is improved. He said the Centre had so far provided five crore Soil Health Cards to farmers in 2015-16, for which ₹109 crore had been released till December 2015.
₹568 crore have been sanctioned for providing Soil Health Cards to all the farmers,” he said, adding that in 2014-15 and 2015-16, the Centre had sanctioned 79 and 101 Soil Health Laboratories, against only 43 such labs in the past four years.
To alleviate the impact of drought, Singh said 100 district irrigation plans should be ready by March 31, 2016 under the Prime Minister Krishi Sinchai Yojana. “Under water management, there is 40 per cent increase in investment in just one year in comparison to last year,” he added.
Singh said over 20 States had expressed interest in linking their mandis with the National Agriculture Market Scheme, for which a portal would be launched by March 2016. “200 mandis will be connected by September 2016 another 200 by March 2017, and the remaining 187 mandis by March 2018,” he said, adding that till December 31, proposals of 214 mandis from eight States had been sanctioned at a cost of ₹111.16 crore.