Rabi crop sowing falls behind target

Wheat coverage lags 6% from year-ago period.

Sowing of major rabi crops""wheat, oilseeds and chana""is yet to catch up with last year's levels.

Though nearly three months of the rabi sowing season are almost over, wheat sowing is still lagging 5.3 per cent on year, oilseeds acreage is down 9.4 per cent on year and pulses sowing by 2.4 per cent compared to the year-ago period.

Rabi sowing season starts October 1, and crops are harvested February onwards. Wheat acreage improved marginally this week over the previous week. Till December 20, wheat coverage lagged 6 per cent from the year-ago period.

Wheat acreage has crossed last year's level so far in Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and West Bengal. It is, however, substantially lower on year in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and parts of Rajasthan due to low moisture levels in soil. 
 

SLOWDOWN Sowing of major rabi crops
Crop In millon hectares	Area covered		Y-o-Y % change	Normal  area
	2006	2007
Coarse cereal
Wheat	26.331	24.934	-5.3	26.19
Rice	0.399	0.401	0.5	3.76
Maize	0.749	0.978	30.6	0.58
Barley	0.639	0.686	7.3	0.65
Total #	6.296	6.457	2.6	6.42
Oilseeds
Rapeseed & Mustard	6.536	5.955	-8.9	5.93
Groundnut	0.44	0.453	2.9	0.82
Total #	9.043	8.194	-9.4	9.09
Pulses
Chana	7.652	7.512	-1.8	6.63
Urad	0.542	0.675	24.5	1.05
Moong	0.3	0.316	5.3	0.95
Total #	12.432	12.132	-2.4	12.26
Note: Change year-on-year, in percentage terms till December 28, 2007 #Total may not tally, as all crops are not included in the table

Acreages of rice, maize, barley and coarse cereals have surpassed previous year's level.

Winter rice acreage marginally rose to 401,000 ha, while barley sowing rose 7.3 per cent and coarse cereals was up 2.6 per cent on year. Though total oilseeds acreage is still lagging, groundnut acreage has improved by almost 3 per cent compared with last year.

Lagging mustard acreage is still an area of concern, as it happens to be India's main winter oilseed crop. Lack of adequate soil moisture in Rajasthan, the main mustard producing state, is reported to be the main reason behind the lower acreage.

Late sowing in Gujarat also affected overall oilseed acreage. Urad and moong recorded a 24.5 per cent and 5.3 per cent increase, despite a fall in total pulses acreage.