Due to an early start in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, wheat sowing has increased by 10% as of Friday during the current rabi season. By the end of the month, the area under the cereal crop will show how much wheat will be produced, as planting in December would certainly damage the crop yield if there is another heatwave like the one that occurred in March-April of this year.
In comparison to the same period last year, the total area sown for all rabi crops grew by 6% to 178.17 lakh hectares (lh) as of November 11. This is about 30% of the average area, which for all rabi crops is 633.18 lh. In Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, more wheat has been sown so far on 45.21 lh. However, planting has been a little bit slower in Punjab and Madhya Pradesh, two important states for buying wheat.
Normal sowing for wheat, the primary winter cereal, starts in November, while harvesting activities take place in March and April. But a lot of places in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh start planting wheat in October, and they finish harvesting the crop earlier than other places. However, the sowing didn’t start until later this year due to the monsoon’s tardy departure from Gujarat and MP.
The area planted with pulses is a bit less this year, down to 54.66 lh from 55.41 lh during the same period last year.
Chana (gram) area increased by 1% to 39.52 lh from 39.12 lh one year prior. The area covered by oilseeds has increased by 12% to 58.11 lh from 51.50 lh.
