2.61 percent increase in sowing of Rabi crops

The planting of pulses and oilseeds has increased this year as compared to last year. There has been an increase of 2.61 percent in the area sown under Rabi crops. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, only wheat crop area has increased by 2.53 percent to 33.54 million hectares.

According to a senior agriculture ministry official, this year there has been an increase of 4.52 per cent in pulses and 5.15 per cent in oilseeds, mainly mustard. With the increase in the area under rabi crops, imports are expected to come down this year.

The senior official also said that the farmers' agitation had hardly any impact on the planting of rabi crops. Much of the protest is in Punjab, where wheat sowing this year is over 3.5 million hectares. Declaration of Minimum Support Price (MSP) before sowing has a positive effect on sowing.

Moderate rainfall and cold weather have proved beneficial for the growth of crops throughout North India. Water storage in 128 major reservoirs across the country during this period is 20 per cent higher than the average of the last 10 years. However, due to lack of price support in the market, the sowing of jowar, barley and maize has decreased by 7.14 percent as compared to last year. It is worth noting here that just a few days back Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar had told ET that the foodgrain production in this Rabi season will cross last year's production of 153.27 million tonnes.

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Courtesy: The Economic Times