Momentum in rabi sowing continues but wheat acreage trails

The momentum in rabi sowing continued this week, though the area under wheat and rice trailed the coverage during the same period a year ago.

According to data released by the Ministry of Agriculture, the overall acreage under rabi crops increased to 120.50 lakh hectares (lh) against 115.83 lh a year ago. 

With the south-west monsoon withdrawing and rainfall being deficient over 60 per cent of the country in October, sowing of wheat and rice, perhaps, slowed down, said experts.

Also read: Wheat sowing begins with a bang; mustard, gram and lentil area too higher 

Slack NE monsoon

In October, the country received rains that were the sixth-lowest since 1901. The North-East monsoon, which set in during the last week of October, is yet to gather momentum and will likely bring higher precipitation next week. 

As per the data, wheat has been sown on 18.05 lh of land compared with 20.65 lh a year ago. The acreage  was higher in Punjab at 2.11 lh. It had not begun at this point in time a year ago. But the coverage lagged behind in Madhya Pradesh at 12.83 lh (13.89 lh a year ago), Uttar Pradesh 2.02 lh (4.13 lh) and other States at 1.37 lh (2.62 lh). 

The area under paddy was down at 5.56 lh compared with 6.11 lh a year ago. The slack trend comes at a time when the kharif rice production is estimated to have dropped 3.8 per cent and rice procurement is 9 per cent lower as of October 31 compared to the year-ago period. 

Most of the rabi paddy coverage is from Tamil Nadu, where 5.18 lh have been brought under the foodgrain. The acreage in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, where the storage level is below normal, is 10,000 hectares and 1,000 hectares respectively. 

Pulses picking up

Pulses acreage seems to be picking up following good prices for the crops currently due to lower kharif output. So far, 38.15 lh have been covered against 37.65 lh a year ago. 

Though lower, a major portion of pulses sowing has been garnered by gram (chana), which has sown on 26.32 lh (27.86 lh). The area under lentils (5.56 lh vs 4.17 lh) and fieldpea (3.50 lh vs 2.52 lh) is higher. Urad (black matpe) coverage trailed at 0.56 lh (0.95) as also moong. 

The concern over pulses is that Maharashtra is going through a dry phase and with the reservoir levels being below normal, the crops could suffer if ample precipitation is not received in the State. 

Among the States, Madhya Pradesh (13.29 lh) has the better coverage in pulses, followed by Rajasthan (8.99 lh) and Karnataka (6.12 lh).  

Promising Shri Anna

The acreage in jowar and maize shows promise currently with the area increasing to 8.93 lh (4.90 lh) and 1.80 lh (1.69 lh), respectively. Bajra coverage is unchanged at 2,000 hectares. Overall, Shri Anna and coarse cereals coverage is 11.21 lh against 7.78 lh a year ago.

Maharashtra leads in sowing of these crops with 5.60 lh brought so far, followed by Karnataka (3.15 lh) and Tamil Nadu (1.81 lh). 

Sowing of oilseeds, whose production declined by 17 per cent during kharif, was up at 47.53 lh against 43.64 lh a year ago. Mustard/rapeseed coverage out of this is 45.74 lh (43.64 lh). The acreage of groundnut and safflower, however, trailed. 

Rajasthan, where mustard is grown widely, has brought 22.74 lh under the crop, while Uttar Pradesh has covered 12.98 lh and Madhya Pradesh 9 lh. 

The India Meteorological Department has projected that November will be warmer and the impact of El Nino on the country will continue. El Nino, caused by the warming of the ocean surface in the Pacific Ocean, will likely last through to June 2024 with the event being severe until March 2024.