Low winter rains pull down acreage of most rabi crops

As the sowing of rabi crops enters its last leg this year, the area under most crops, barring wheat, has been less than in 2010 largely because of poor early winter rains.

According to an India Meteorological Department (IMD) report, rainfall between October 1 to December 22 has been almost 49 per cent below normal with large tracts of agricultural land in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra remaining devoid of any winter showers this year.

Low rains, however, did not have any impact on the sowing of wheat it is largely grown in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh which have good irrigation facilities. But, it pulled down the acreage under pulses (mainly gram), oilseeds and coarse cereals.

Fall in the area under pulses is a worry, as it comes against the backdrop of an almost 10 per cent shortfall in kharif pulses production.

The latest data issued by the agriculture ministry showed that till Friday, pulses have been sown in around 13.41 million hectares, down 0.69 per cent from the same period last year.

The area under gram, the most-grown during the rabi season has dropped by almost 4.34 per cent till Friday as compared to the same period last year at 8.57 million hectares.

“Last year, India had a record production of pulses largely because of area expansion,” said Ramesh Chand, director of National Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research (NCAP). “But, this year if we don’t have adequate rainfall in the coming few days, then there could be a shortfall in rabi output which on the back of the fall in kharif production could push up retail prices of pulses more in the coming months.”

Chand, who recently conducted a study to analyze the reasons behind record pulses production in 2010-2011, said that low pre-winter rains impacted not only pulses acreage in this rabi season, but also of oilseeds and coarse cereals. In 2010-2011, India produced an all-time high pulses production of almost 20 million tonnes

In oilseeds, data showed that the area till Friday has been almost 6.2 per cent less than last year at 7.79 million hectares. Acreage of mustard has fallen short by 5.7 per cent against 6.38 million hectares in 2010-2011. Industry players said edible oil prices could go up if mustard production remains low as it is one of the biggest oil-bearing seed produced in the country.

Area under coarse cereals was also almost 7.3 per cent less than last year at 5.37 million hectares.