Rabi sowing starts on a slow pace, likely to gather pace after festivals

Despite a late resurgence of southwest monsoon over most parts of northern and western India, sowing of rabi crops for the 2012-2013 season has began on a sluggish note.

Sowing of wheat, the biggest crop grown during the rabi season, has not started from any part of the country yet, officials said.

According to a preliminary assessment by the department of agriculture, till Friday, rabi crops have been sown in around 4.05 million hectares of land, almost 14.31% less than last year.

“Though sowing has began on slow pace, but it will gather steam once festivals are over,” a senior government official said.

Among the major crops, sowing of which has started for the rabi season, pulses have been sown in around 1.87 million hectares till Friday, around 31%  less than last year, while oilseeds have been planted in around 2.18 million hectares, just 0.16 million hectares more than last year.

“There was an expectation that sowing of pulses and oilseeds will be more right from the start during the rabi season because of late withdrawal of monsoon, but it does not seem to be the case. Nevertheless, it is too early to predict any trend,” experts said.

India’s 2012 southwest monsoon (June to September) was around 92% of the long period average. Bulk of the rains happened after August and also the rains withdrew almost 10 days behind its normal schedule.

The late withdrawal had raised hopes that sowing of pulses and oilseeds would be more in the initial days.