Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Saturday said that area covered under rabi sowing is expected to accelerate further in the coming days and a good harvest can be expected this year.

With the rabi area coverage havingincreasing by 24.13 lakh hectare (lh) so far compared with the corresponding period last year, Tomar said that along with favourable soil moisture condition, better water storage position and comfortable availability of fertilisers the sowing activities will accelerate in next 1-2 months.

Total area sown under all the rabi crops was at 358.59 lh as of November 25, which is 57 per cent of the normal rabi area. The sowing was at 334.46 lh in the corresponding period last year, an official statement said Saturday.

Area coverage under wheat was at 152.88 lh compared with 138.35 lh in the year-ago period, as major wheat-growing States have reported increased area coverage. There is an increase in area coverage by 14.53 lh over last year and it is the highest in last four years.

Present live water storage in 143 important reservoirs across the country is 149.49 billion cubic metre as of November 24, which is 106 per cent of the year-ago period and 119 per cent of normal. Soil moisture condition during November 15-21, 2022 is more than the average of the past seven years in the corresponding period in most of the districts, the Agriculture Ministry said. Availability of fertilisers against the requirement for rabi season is also comfortable across the country.

According to a recent Fertiliser Ministry statement, pro rata requirement of urea up to November 16 was 57.40 lakh tonnes (lt), against which the government has ensured availability of 92.54 lt. The sales of urea have been reported at 38.43 lt, it said. In case of DAP, the ministry said the pro rata requirement up to November 16 was 26.98 lt, against which 36.90 lt were made available and sales were at 24.57 lt.

However, official data for October showed that against the monthly demand of 35.65 lt of urea, the availability was 30.77 lt and that of DAP was 18.39 lt against supplies of 15.06 lt.

Wheat procurement dropped to a 15-year low of 187.92 lt during 2022-23 rabi marketing season (April-March), which is attributed to a drastic fall in production. However, the government estimates have shown a marginal decline of 2.75 million tonnes(mt) to 106.84 mt during 2021-22 crop year (July-June) from previous year’s 109.59 mt.

The unabated price rise of wheat even after India isolated itself from global impact by banning export points towards a supply side issue rather than any artificial manipulation, many experts have said. According to Consumer Affairs Ministry data, the all India average retail wheat price was ₹31.32/kg during this month as against ₹29.35/kg in May, when export ban was announced. In Delhi and national capital region wheat is not available below ₹30/kg in retail market and local chakkis (processors) are selling atta at minimum ₹33/kg.

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