113.7 lakh hectare used till Nov 24 against 96.9 lakh hectare last year. | |
| An area of about 113.74 lakh hectare was used for sowing wheat as on November 24, according to the ministry of agriculture data, indicating a rise of nearly 17 per cent over the 96.93 lakh hectare cultivated in the same period last year. |
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| The acreage has increased in the states of Punjab, Madhya Pradesh (MP), Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (UP), Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. |
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| In Punjab, wheat was sown in 25.04 lakh hectare against 22.84 lakh hectare last year, followed by MP with 22.07 lakh hectare compared with 19.19 lakh hectare, UP with 21.58 lakh hectare (18.65 lakh hectare), Haryana with 18.75 lakh hectare (17.50 lakh hectare), and Maharashtra with 4.59 lakh hectare (3.73 lakh hectare). |
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| The wheat acreage has seen a phenomenal increase in Rajasthan and Gujarat. While in Rajasthan it rose to 9.94 lakh hectare from 4.03 lakh hectare, in Gujarat, the growth was from 1.54 lakh hectare to 4.09 lakh hectare. |
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| And importantly, the crop condition has been reported to be normal in all the states. |
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| Besides a crisis in wheat output, the country has also seen a shortage of pulses this year, which resulted in prices having more than doubled over the last year. |
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| However, the chana acreage in the ongoing rabi season rose over 12 per cent to 52.26 lakh hectare, as on November 23, from 46.37 lakh hectare last year. The lentil acreage has also grown from 7.7 lakh hectare to 9.2 lakh hectare. |
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| The growth in acreage of wheat and chana is happening at the cost of rapeseed, mustard and other oilseeds. The area under rapeseed and mustard declined over 7 per cent from 62.28 lakh hectare last year to 57.73 lakh hectare as on November 23. |
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| The sunflower acreage has also fallen, from 10 lakh hectare to 7.96 lakh hectare. |
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| In oilseeds, the area of 74.79 lakh hectare covered as on November 23 is less than the area covered in the corresponding period of two previous years "� 81.61 lakh hectare in 2005 and 77.62 lakh hectare in 2004. |
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| This is mainly owing to the diversion of the sowing area of rapeseed and mustard to chana in MP and to wheat in Haryana. |
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