Wheat sowing up 38% so far; farmers wait for rabi MSP

Area sown for wheat, the main rabi crop, has gone up by 38 per cent to 25.72 lakh hectare in the ongoing rabi season, even as farmers wait for government's announcement of support price for rabi crops.
Wheat is the main rabi crop and sowing starts from October, with harvesting beginning in April.
As per the latest government data, wheat has been sown in 25.72 lakh hectare so far in the rabi (winter) season, as against 18.65 lakh hectare in the year-ago period.
Higher wheat coverage was reported from Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Gujarat.
Area under paddy has increased to 9.68 lakh hectare from 6.46 lakh hectare, while pulses acreage has risen to 49.24 lakh hectare from 37.23 lakh hectare in the said period.

Oilseed acreage has increased to 42.03 lakh hectare so far this rabi season as against 31.11 lakh hectare in the year-ago period.

However, sowing area of coarse cereals was down at 20.17 lakh hectare as against 33.26 lakh hectare in the same period last year.
The area under rabi crops overall increased to 146.85 lakh hectare so far this rabi season when compared with 126.71 lakh hectare in the year-ago period.
It may be noted that farmers are waiting for the government to announce the minimum support price (MSP) of rabi crops to take a call which crop to grow this rabi season.