Wheat sowing takes a hit, lags at 202 lakh hectares

Wheat sowing is lagging as the main rabi crop has been planted only in 202.28 lakh hectares so far this rabi season due to less soil moisture.
Farmers had sown wheat in 241.92 lakh hectares in the same period of rabi season in 2014-15.
Sowing of rabi crops begins from October and harvesting starts from April.
Besides wheat, sowing of rice, pulses and oilseeds crops was trailing while coarse cereals were covered in more areas as on today in the ongoing rabi season, as per the data released by the Agriculture Ministry.
Rice acreage was down at 10.94 lakh hectares so far this rabi season as against 12.85 lakh hectares in the year-ago period. Floods in Tamil Nadu have affected sowing of rice.

Area sown to pulses, which is mostly grown in rain-fed areas, was at 114.51 lakh hectares as against 115.34 lakh hectares while acreage under oilseeds remained down at 65.68 lakh hectares as against 71.18 lakh hectares in the said period.

However, area sown to coarse cereals at 48.92 lakh hectares was higher than 45.42 lakh hectares in the period under review.
Total rabi crops were sown in 442.33 lakh hectares so far this rabi season of 2015-16, down from 486.69 lakh hectares in the same period last year.
It may be noted that there is less soil moisture in some states in the wake of 14 per cent deficit in monsoon rains in July-September. Also, floods in Tamil Nadu have affected rabi sowing operations.