Area sown to wheat down by 6.22% so far

Total area sown to wheat has come down by 6.22 per cent to 281.7 lakh hectare so far in the rabi season due to high temperature.
Farmers had sown wheat in 299.33 lakh hectare in the same period last year.
Sowing of wheat, the main rabi (winter) crop, begins from October and harvesting starts from April.
Area under oilseeds, pulses and rice is also lagging behind the last year's level, according to the data released by the Agriculture Ministry.
Sowing of wheat and other rabi crops has been affected because of less soil moisture following two consecutive drought years.
Agriculture Secretary Siraj Hussain said the likely fall in temperature in the next 2-3 days, as projected by India Meteorological Department would improve crop prospects.

"Currently, temperature is higher than the average normal. So far, there is no adverse impact of high temperature on wheat crop," he said.

As per the data, pulses area has come down marginally to 134.36 lakh hectare so far this rabi season, as against 134.81 lakh hectare in the year-ago period.
Similarly, area under oilseeds remained lower at 74.46 lakh hectare as against 77.41 lakh hectare, while the area sown to rice was also down at 17.07 lakh hectare as compared with 18.63 lakh hectare in the said period.
However, the area sown to coarse cereals was higher at 57.40 lakh hectare from 52.28 lakh hectare in the said period.

It may be noted that experts are projecting fall in this year's wheat production by at least five per cent considering the current lag in the acreage. The production loss is expected to widen if high temperature continue for more days.