Wheat sown in 298.47 lakh ha so far; close to last year's level

Wheat planting has been done in 298.47 lakh hectare so far in the ongoing rabi (winter) season, which is close to the year-ago period, according to the agriculture ministry.

However, sowing of rice, pulses, coarse cereals and oilseeds remained slightly lower than the year-ago period, the ministry said in a statement.

Sowing of wheat, the main rabi crop, begins from October and harvesting from March-April.

According to the latest data, wheat sown area reached 298.47 lakh hectare so far in the rabi season 2018-19 as against 299.84 lakh hectare a year ago.

Farmers have planted wheat in 99.13 lakh hectare in Uttar Pradesh, 59.11 lakh hectare in Madhya Pradesh, 35.02 lakh hectare in Punjab, 25.16 lakh hectare in Haryana and 22.56 lakh hectare in Bihar so far.

In the case of pulses, about 156.30 lakh hectare was covered till February 14 of this season, lower than 166.11 lakh hectare a year ago.

Gram, urad, lentil and moong are main rabi pulses.

Oilseeds acreage was at 80.40 lakh hectare so far this season, close to 80.98 lakh hectare in the year-ago season.

Coarse cereals were covered in 48.69 lakh hectare as against 57.02 lakh hectare, while rice was sown in 33.96 lakh hectare when compared with 39.64 lakh hectare in the year-ago period.

Total area sown to all rabi crops was lagging behind at 617.83 lakh hectare so far this season when compared with 643.60 lakh hectare in the corresponding period last year.