The Hindu : National : Area sown under rabi wheat picks up

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Sunday, Jan 17, 2010
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Area sown under rabi wheat picks up

Gargi Parsai

NEW DELHI: Sowing of rabi wheat, rice, coarse cereals and pulses has crossed last year’s level but there is a decline of about 6.2 per cent in the acreage of oilseeds. The shortfall in oilseeds is mainly due to the decline in acreage of mustard in Rajasthan on account of poor weather conditions.

A crop and weather watch group coordinated by the Ministry of Agriculture reviewed the situation on Friday. It was informed that as against a coverage of 88.85 lakh hectares in oilseeds last year, so far 83.33 lakh hectares had been sown this year. The shortfall was in mustard, groundnut, safflower, and sesamum sowing.

Pulses cultivation

The area under pulses, however, increased to 125.60 lakh hectares this rabi, against 120.84 lakh hectares in the corresponding period last year. The highest area coverage was in Madhya Pradesh, followed by Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.

In the case of wheat, the area sown so far is 260.71 lakh hectares compared to 255.62 lakh hectares last year. Sowing in Uttar Pradesh was delayed owing to a late harvest of the kharif sugarcane crop.

The area under coarse cereals stood at 326.20 lakh hectares as against 324.04 lakh hectares in the corresponding period last year. Rabi rice was sown in 4.55 lakh hectares against 3.61 lakh hectares last year.

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