Area under wheat crop sowing rises 5.2 pc

The area under wheat crop sowing in the country has increased by 5.2 per cent in the ongoing rabi season as of December 27.
Wheat has been cultivated on 286.90 lakh hectares compared with 272.79 lakh hectares during the same period in the last season.
The total rabi crop-sown area, including rice, pulses, cereals and oilseeds, has increased to 564.18 lakh hectares from 544.2 lakh hectares a year earlier, the Agriculture Ministry said in a release.
Sowing of rabi crops starts in October. A bumper harvest is expected this year due to a good and prolonged monsoon, which helps to retain soil moisture and support the sowing of rabi crops.

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had said foodgrain production this year may break the previous record of 259.29 million tonnes achieved in 2011-12 if the weather remains favourable through the ongoing rabi season.
Among other rabi crops, the area under pulses has risen to 138.08 lakh hectares this season from 133.04 lakh hectares last year.

Oilseeds are being cultivated on 81.42 lakh hectares compared with 77.72 lakh hectares last year.
However, the rice-sown area dropped to 2.88 lakh hectares from 4.43 lakh hectares. Coarse cereals are being grown on 54.9 lakh hectares compared with 56.22 lakh hectares.
The government has set a rabi crop production target of 92.50 million tonnes for wheat, 12 million tonnes for pulses, 14 million tonnes for rice, 4.4 million tonnes for maize and 1.5 million tonnes for barley.