Pace of wheat sowing to pick up in coming days: Govt

There is no cause of concern about less area sown to wheat so far this rabi season as the pace of planting is expected to pick up in coming days, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said today.

Sowing of wheat, the main rabi crop, starts in October and harvesting begins in April.

"The area sown to wheat so far is lower than the year-ago period but there is no cause of concern at present. Sowing operations will pick up soon in key growing states like Punjab and Haryana," Singh said at an event to celebrate the golden jubilee of Green Revolution.

Wheat sowing normally continues till December and there was no need to worry about less area been planted during the start of the season as just 40% of the total wheat area has been covered so far, he said.

Singh further said, "It is difficult to predict weather conditions for three months down the line as we had unseasonal rains and hailstorms last year that impacted wheat output."

Farm scientists said that wheat sowing has not yet picked up due to less soil moisture following deficient monsoon rains. Also, the harvesting of kharif crops has got delayed and farmers are in the process of preparing field by clearing the residues of crops like rice.

As per the Agriculture Ministry's data, area sown to wheat was down by 36% at 78.83 lakh hectares till last week of the current 2015-16 rabi season, compared with 107.35 lakh hectares in the year-ago period.

Wheat output is estimated to have declined to 88.94 million tonnes in the 2014-15 crop year (July-June) as against a record 95.85 million tonnes achieved in the previous year.