Page 2 - Rabi Sowing

Wheat acreage up nearly 10% as rabi sowing nears halfway, shows data

Usually wheat is sown in around 30.5 million hectares of which so far around 15.28 million is already sown

Govt refutes any shortage of fertilisers in rabi season, says enough supply

The Centre on Friday said there is adequate availability of key fertilisers, including urea and DAP, across the country for the ongoing rabi season, rejecting reports of shortage in Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan. "There have been some media reports claiming shortage of fertilizers in Trichy, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan. Such reports are beyond the facts," the Fertiliser Ministry said in a statement. It is clarified that there is more than adequate availability of fertilizers in the country to meet the needs of the ongoing rabi (winter) season, it said. The central government is sending fertilizers as per need to all states, and it is the responsibility of respective state governments to ensure availability within the states through proper intra-district and inter-district distribution, it added. According to the ministry, urea requirement is projected at 180.18 lakh tonne for the 2022 rabi season. The pro rata requirement up to November 16 was 57.40 lakh tonne against which the government

BKU leader Rakesh Tikait says he will boycott trials of GM Mustard

BKU leader Rakesh Tikait here on Sunday said he will not allow trials of genetically modified (GM) Mustard proposed by the central government. Addressing the mahapanchayat of farmers near Ghungroo intersection of Jhalwa, Tikait said, "The Ministry of Science and Technology has approved the trial of GM mustard. Preparations are being made to conduct trials at two places, Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh and Bharatpur in Rajasthan. We will not allow the trial, neither in Uttar Pradesh nor in Rajasthan." The Bhartiya Kisan Union leader said that there was no reason why the GM Mustard should be allowed into the country after objections from scientists from several countries. "When something is banned in the whole world, we have reports of 400 scientists, we have bad results of BT cotton cultivation, then what is the need for the Indian government to allow the cultivation of GM mustard. Is there a shortage of mustard in the country?" he said. Tikait claimed there will not be a dearth of cr

Rabi sowing tracker: Mustard covers 72% of normal area, wheat spikes

Mustard is usually sown in 6.4 million hectares, and sowing in almost 4.6 million hectares is complete till Friday

SC orders status quo on sowing of GM mustard; next hearing on Nov 10

The plea stated that the modified seeds can contaminate non-GM mustard crops and that the sowing of such seeds should be put on hold

Cabinet approves Rs 51,875 cr subsidy for P&K fertilisers for rabi season

The government on Wednesday approved a subsidy of Rs 51,875 crore for phosphatic and potassic (P&K) fertilisers for second half of 2022-23 as part of efforts to provide affordable soil nutrients to farmers. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved nutrient-based subsidy (NBS) rates for P&K fertilisers for 2022-23 rabi season, an official statement said. The CCEA has approved a subsidy of Rs 98.02 per kg for nitrogen (N), Rs 66.93 per kg for phosphorus (P), Rs 23.65 per kg for potash (K) and Rs 6.12 per kg for sulphur (S), it said. "Subsidy approved by the Cabinet for the NBS Rabi-2022 (from 01.10.2022 to 31.03.2023) will be Rs 51,875 crore including support for indigenous fertiliser (SSP) through freight subsidy," the statement said. This will enable smooth availability of all P&K fertilisers to farmers during the rabi season at subsidized / affordable prices and support the agriculture sector, it said. "The ...

Scientists say GM mustard production can start from this rabi itself

An official clarification made later says approval has come from GEAC, which is authorised to do so, and not from MoEF

ICAR can conduct field demos and trials of GM mustard this rabi season

Government agri-research body ICAR can conduct field demos and trials of the recently approved GM-mustard hybrid DMH-11 this rabi season and make it available for commercial use within three years, top officials of agri think-tank NASS and TASS said on Monday. On October 25, the environment ministry approved the "environment release" of transgenic mustard hybrid DMH-11 and the parental lines containing barnase, barstar and bar genes so that they can be used for developing new hybrids under the supervision of The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Addressing a joint press conference, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NASS) President Trilochan Mohapatra and Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences (TAAS) Chairman R S Paroda said the environment release of DMH-11 is a "landmark decision" breaking a long logjam on the release of GM food crops. The ICAR should be in a position to conduct field demonstrations and trials of DMH-11 in the next 10-15 days in key .

Sowing hope: Nearly 54% jump in early wheat planting, shows data

However, this year, traders and market sources are hopeful that there could be a 10-15 per cent rise in wheat acreage

Statsguru: Six charts show the rise in MSP for rabi marketing season

The government's decisions on MSP are often said to be driven also with an eye on food inflation

Rabi sowing starts better than last year; but wheat sowing yet to begin

Harvesting of paddy has been delayed in the main states of Punjab, Haryana, UP and even Madhya Pradesh because of late withdrawal of southwest monsoon which has left the fields wet

Mustard gains in initial rabi sowing, markets bullish on wheat

Wheat is usually sown in around 31 million hectares, mostly in the northern belt

States hit by deficit rains to get seed minikits of pulses, oilseeds: Govt

Expecting early sowing of winter crops in states that witnessed poor and erratic rains in the kharif season, the Centre on Thursday said it will distribute seeds minikits of pulses and oilseeds in those states. Normally, sowing of rabi (winter) crops begins from October and continues till mid-November, after harvesting of kharif (summer) crops. According to the agriculture ministry, the erratic and deficit rainfall in some states during this kharif season has necessitated the need for early sowing of rabi crops especially pulses and oilseeds. The government's focus is also to provide seed minikits of pulses and oilseeds targeting monsoon deficit regions in the states apart from the regular distribution, it said in a statement. The minikits are being provided by central agencies such as National Seeds Corporation (NSC) and NAFED and the distribution is funded by the central government through the National Food Security Mission. To promote pulses sowing, the government has allocated

Govt procures 34,917 tonnes of wheat in Rabi marketing season so far

A quantity of 34,917 tonnes of wheat has been procured till April 3, benefitting 3,510 farmers with MSP value of Rs 70.36 crore

Total acreage slightly up at 431,000 hectares till Oct 14 in Rabi season

Total area under coverage in the ongoing Rabi (winter-sown) season is marginally up at 4.31 lakh hectares so far, mainly due to an increase in acreage of oilseeds crop. In the year-ago period, the acreage stood at 4.21 lakh hectares. The sowing of wheat, a major Rabi crop, has not been reported till October 14 by any state. Sowing in Rabi season starts from October. Minor area of 0.87 lakh hectares coverage has been reported by Tamil Nadu only in rice, an official statement said on Thursday. The acreage of rice stood at 0.99 lakh hectares in the year-ago period. In case of pulses, 0.25 lakh hectares area has been sown so far this season as against 1.18 lakh hectares in the same period last year. Coarse cereals sowing area has risen to 0.38 lakh hectares from 0.22 lakh hectares. In case of oilseeds, about 2.81 lakh hectares area coverage has been reported so far by Uttar Pradesh (2.79 lakh hectares), Karnataka (0.01 lakh hectares) and Jammu & Kashmir (0.01 lakh hectares). Oilsee

Fertiliser subsidy in rabi season to benefit farmers, industry: ICRA

Rating agency ICRA has termed the government's decision to provide a special one-time package for extra subsidy on DAP fertiliser as positive for farmers as well as the industry, and said the availability of key nutrients will improve in the coming months. On Tuesday, the government announced a net subsidy of Rs 28,655 crore on Phosphatic and Potassic (P&K) fertilisers for the October-March period of this fiscal to ensure that farmers get nutrients at affordable prices during the rabi sowing season. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the Nutrient-Based Subsidy (NBS) rates for P&K fertilisers for October 2021 to March 2022. In a statement, the rating agency said the Centre has approved a special one-time package for pay-out of additional subsidy for DAP and three most consumed NPK grades. The subsidy rates under the NBS scheme have been kept unchanged from the announcement made in May 2021. However, an additional pay out of Rs 438/bag (Rs 8,760 per ...

Cabinet okays Rs 28,655 cr subsidy on P&K fertilisers for rabi season

Total subsidy burden to be around Rs 130,000 in FY-22, almost 63% more than budgeted

Complex fertiliser prices rise as supplies fall short ahead of rabi sowing

Reports say Centre is contemplating another round of subsidy support

MSP hikes need to be supplemented by higher yields, say experts

Business Standard looks at the MSP hikes of main rabi crops in the last 10 years and their percentage rise compared to previous years

Govt procures record 43.33 MT wheat in 2021-22 rabi marketing season

The government has procured record 43.33 million tonne of wheat in the 2021-22 rabi marketing season, the Food Ministry said on Monday. Wheat marketing season is from April to March, but bulk of procurement is normally done in the first 3-4 months. The previous record was 38.99 million tonne (MT) in the 2020-21 rabi marketing season. "Hitting an all-time high, 43.33 million tonne of wheat has been procured from most of the wheat procuring states after conclusion of current marketing season 2021-22," the ministry said in a release. About 49.15 lakh farmers have already benefitted from the current procurement operations with an MSP (minimum support price) value of Rs 85,581.39 crore, it said. However, procurement of paddy grown in the kharif season of 2020-21 is still continuing. Kharif paddy is procured between October and September. The ministry said paddy buying is continuing smoothly and so far 86.98 million tonne of paddy has been purchased as against 75.92 million tonne in th