Led by higher acreage in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, wheat acreage has gone past last year’s coverage for the first time this rabi season. It had been trailing until now. This development will, potentially, help the Government to achieve the targetted 114 million tonnes of wheat production. However, all stakeholders are keeping their fingers crossed on the weather as there has been 1-2 degrees Celsius above normal maximum temperature in many places of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan over the past two days.

Wheat acreage was 336.96 lakh hectares (lh) as of January 12 compared with 335.67 lh in the corresponding period a year ago. Uttar Pradesh has reported the sowing of the key winter cereal on 101.41 lh against 97.12 lh a year ago, up by 4.4 per cent. It has helped offset the lower coverage in Rajasthan and Maharashtra. The acreage in Punjab and Haryana is almost at par with last year.

‘No cause for concern’

“There is no cause for concern if day temperature is 1-2 degree Celsius higher as long as the night is cooler. The cold conditions at night and sunshine during the day is good for the wheat crop,” said Gyanendra Singh, Director of Karnal-based Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR) under Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

The maximum temperature in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan was 22-28 degrees Celsius over the past two days. According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), minimum temperatures are in the range of 3-7 degrees C over most parts of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, some parts of Uttar Pradesh, north Madhya Pradesh and in isolated pockets of Bihar, which are (-) 1-3 degree Celsius below normal.

IMD has predicted a gradual fall in minimum temperature by 2-3 degrees Celsius over many parts of central and east India the next 2-3 days. Also, no significant change in minimum temperature is seen over north-west India during next five days.

Pulsea area trails

“Cold wave to severe cold wave conditions very likely to continue in isolated pockets of Punjab, Haryana, on January 12-13 and cold wave conditions in isolated pockets next day. Also, cold wave conditions are very likely in isolated pockets of Rajasthan on January 12, over Uttar Pradesh on January 12-13 and over Bihar during January 12-14. Ground frost conditions are very likely over Uttarakhand, Punjab and Haryana on January 12-13,” IMD said in a statement.

According to data released by Agriculture Ministry, area sown under all Rabi crops during 2023-24 crop year (July-June) was 673.49 lh until January 12, which is 0.7 per cent lower than 678.15 lh during the corresponding period of last year.

Winter-grown pulses acreage was 152.39 lh compared with 160.22 lh, down by 5 per cent as gram (chana) acreage dropped by 6 per cent to 101.99 lh from 108.93 lh. But lentil acreage rose by 6 per cent at 19.45 lh from 18.39 lh.

Groundnut coverage slips

In coarse cereals, the sowing area was 52.03 lh, up 5 per cent from 49.5 lh. Both jowar and maize acreage were 4 per cent up, each at 22.61 lh and 20.51 lh, respectively. Barley sowing is also up by 10 per cent at 8.18 lh against 7.42 lh a year ago.

Mustard acreage was 99.58 lh, 2 per cent more than 97.44 lh in the corresponding period of 2022-23. All rabi oilseeds acreage has been reported to be at 108.52 lh, up from 107.99 lh a year ago. Groundnut area was down by 19 per cent at 4.02 lh from 4.96 lh. Though groundnut is a kharif crop, it is also grown in about 7 lh during winter, mainly in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

Paddy acreage reached 23.6 lh against 24.76 lh a year ago and the maximum area of 11.46 lh has been reported from Tamil Nadu.

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