Wheat sowing crosses last year's pace

Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have led a surge in wheat sowing during the week ended Friday, putting overall production on track for a record harvest in 2012-13, provided the weather remains benign during the next few months.

Sowing was on 22.74 million hectares till Friday, the highest in the corresponding period of the past five years, shows data from the department of agriculture. Year-on-year, the sowing was three per cent higher. Sowing of pulses, lacklustre till the previous few weeks, has also sharply picked up because of mild winter rain in some parts.

Wheat had been sown on 4.33 million hectares till Friday in Madhya Pradesh, 31.3 per cent more than the same period last year. The state’s five-year average has been 4.2 million hectares. This year, MP aims to have wheat sown on 4.95 million hectares.

In Rajasthan, wheat had been sown on 2.28 million hectares till last week, 6.9 per cent more than in the same period of last year. In Uttar Pradesh, wheat was planted on 7.1 million hectares till last week, one per cent more than last year.

MP witnessed a record wheat harvest in 2011-12, mainly due to a Rs 100-a-quintal bonus announced by the state government and favourable weather.

Sowing in Punjab and Haryana, the two biggest wheat producing states, lagged. The data showed wheat had been planted on 3.31 million hectares in Punjab, down from 3.38 million hectares of last year. In Haryana, it was sown in 2.27 million hectares, lower than last year’s 2.3 million hectares.

“There is still time for wheat sowing in Punjab and Haryana and the acreage should be more than last year, as water reservoirs are in good shape. The trend, however, shows both Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are gradually consolidating as premier wheat-producing states,” a senior official said.

Data from the Central Water Commission shows storage in the 84 major reservoirs in the country were 96.9 billion cubic metres till Thursday, 91 per cent of last year’s level and 106 per cent of the 10-year average.

Pulses’ sowing also gathered pace during the week ended Friday, after a slow start during the start of the rabi season. The area sown was 12.12 mn ha till Friday, almost 0.5 per cent more than last year.