With the rabi sowing activities already complete in most parts of the country, the area under oilseeds has risen to a record 10.3 million hectares (MH), while sowing of wheat surpassed the last year’s level as well as the average of the last five years. Overall area under winter crops has touched an all-time high, reports Sandip Das.
Average area under oilseeds in the last five years was 7.8 MH. This is expected to boost domestic edible oil production and likely to help reduce imports. Area under wheat this season has touched 32.5 MH as per data released by the agriculture ministry on Friday.
With sowing activities in key producing states — Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh — completed, the wheat crop is likely to exceed the previous year’s levels as farmers are hoping for remunerative prices, given tight domestic as well as global supplies. Wheat output in the 2021-22 crop year (July-June) had declined by around 3% on year to 106.8 million tonne because of heat waves during March earlier this year, considered a flowering stage of the crop. Overall area under all the rabi or winter crops — wheat, pulses, oilseeds and coarse cereals — was reported at 64.5 MH, up 4.5% from the year-ago level. The sown area this year has been higher than the average area under rabi crops — 63.3 MH in the last five years. Coarse cereal sowing is up by 4%.