Sowing of wheat down by 7.4%; pulses by 2.35% till Dec

Area sown to wheat was down by 7.4 per cent at 271.46 lakh hectare, while that of pulses by 2.35 per cent at 128.24 lakh hectare in the first three months of the ongoing rabi season due to dry winters.
Sowing of rabi crops, including wheat, begins from October and harvesting starts from April.
The rabi sowing has been affected due to less soil moisture in the wake of drought for the second straight year. There is drought in 10 states because of 14 per cent deficit monsoon rainfall this year.
As per the data released by the Agriculture Ministry, wheat -- the main rabi crop -- has been sown in 271.46 lakh hectare till December of this rabi season, as against 293.16 lakh hectare in the year-ago period.

Wheat sowing was lagging behind in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Punjab, the data showed.
There was less area under wheat because of lack of soil moisture. As a result, there was shift to coarse cereals that grow in less water, an agriculture ministry official said.

With regard to pulses, area sown to various pulses was down by 2.35 per cent to 128.24 lakh hectare till December of this rabi season, as against 131.33 lakh hectare in the year- ago period.
Less area was reported from Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Chhatisgarh, Assam, Haryana and some north east states.

In case of oilseeds too, sowing was trailing as total area was down by 6 per cent at 71.47 lakh hectare as against 76.11 lakh hectare in the said period.
Less area was reported from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Maharasthra, Assam, Telangana, Gujarat, Chhatisgarh, Tamil Nadu and Punjab.
However in case of coarse cereals, the area was slightly higher at 55.19 lakh hectare till December of this rabi season, as against 50.97 lakh hectare in the year-ago.
More coarse cereals were sown in drought-hit states like Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Odisha.
It may be noted that more than 80 per cent of rabi sowing has been completed till December. The lag in sowing of key crops raises concern about production. However the correct picture about production loss would be known in February- March.