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Wheat acreage is down by 1.7 per cent at 333.97 lakh hectares (lh) as of Friday from 339.91 lh in the year-ago period, according to the weekly update by the Union Agriculture Ministry. As another 13 lh remains to be sown to match last season’s total area under wheat, there may be a overall fall in the acreage of this cereal since the pace of planting has slowed down.
Only 8 lh could be planted under wheat during the past one wee,k whereas in the year-ago period, it was 11 lh. On the other hand, during the week ended December 31, the planted area increased by 20.41 lh, week-on-week compared with 19.43 lh year-ago.
Lower area in wheat reported from Uttar Pradesh (by 3.11 lh), Haryana (1.35 lh), Maharashtra (1.20 lh), Madhya Pradesh (1.14 lh), Gujarat (0.90 lh) and Punjab (0.20 lh). The Centre has set a target to achieve 350.72 lh area and 110 million tonnes (mt) of production for 2021-22.
Except for mustard, most of the major rabi crops have reported a decline in acreage this year. Traders attribute this to a shift towards mustard by farmers in all the major producing states hoping to get better prices due to prevailing high rates of oilseeds and cooking oils.
Rabi rice
Though the rabi rice area has also declined by 12 per cent to 16.44 lh as of January 7 from 18.69 lh in the year-ago, there is still time for the crop. The targetted area is 42.2 lh and production is 16.8 mt for the winter-grown rice in 2021-22. As many as 10 lh area under rice was covered in February last year when sowing for most crops was completed by the end of January. Rabi season’s rice has nearly 15 per cent share in country’s total rice output, estimated at a record 122.27 mt in 2020-21.
In the group of coarse and nutri cereals, the acreage has dipped 3.4 per cent to 46.68 lh from 48.32 lh. But the area under maize is higher by 9.1 per cent at 15.94 lh from 14.61.
Sowing of all rabi crops has increased 1 per cent to 652.16 lh as of January 7 from 646.23 lh in the corresponding period last year, the agriculture ministry said, releasing the weekly update. The crops conditions are normal, even as some states reported fertilizer shortage, the update said.
Mustard continues to lead the oilseeds acreage with a 23.2 per cent increase to 89.71 lh from 72.79 while groundnut at 3.99 lh almost at par with year-ago.
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