Rabi sowing of wheat, rice, oilseeds, pulses progressing well

New Delhi, Nov 14 (UNI) The Government today claimed that the sowing of wheat during Rabi season this year is progressing well in most of the states with 26.90 lakh hacture wheat having already been sowed as compared to last year's coverage of 21.92 lakh hectares.

The normal area of wheat which is about 265.72 lakh hectare is likely to be exceeded this year, an Agriculture Ministry spokesman said here.

The area covered for sowing of the crop so far was Haryana (7.20 lakh ha), Karnatka (1.73 lakh ha), Madhya Pradesh (8.21 lakh ha) and Uttar Pradesh (5.73 lakh ha), he said.

In Gujarat, the temperature was a little high in the last week of October but now the sowing has started there also.

Sowing has also started in Maharastra, he said.

Similarly, rice sowing has begun but major sowing would take place in next two months, he said, adding about 0.15 lakh ha has been covered against normal area of 36.72 lakh ha.

In the case of coarse grains like Maize, sowing had been done over 2.32 lakh hac, out of the 8.02 lakh ha in rabi season.

Good moisture had given prospects of increasing coverage for the crop this year.

Jowar has been sown in about 41.97 lakh ha out of about 49.11 lakh ha normal area. Compared to last year about 6.01 lakh ha more area has been sown and more area coverage is reported in Maharashtra (+5.11 lakh ha) and Karnataka (+1.39 lakh ha).

Coarse cereals area coverage increased by 7.52 lakh hectare this year with covering 45.79 lakh ha as compared to the 38.27 lakh. The total coarse cereals sown under the normal area is 63.59 lakh ha.

The area coverage during rabi 2008 reported so far is 45.79 lakh ha as against 38.27 lakh ha during the corresponding period last year.

The spokesman said about 35 per cent sowing of rabi crop had already been completed. More than 55 per cent area under oilseeds and pulses has also been sown.

The normal rabi oilseed area is about 95.16 lakh ha. The total oilseed sowing so far has been completed in about 60.59 lakh ha compared to 43.49 lakh ha at this time last year, indicating that about 17.10 lakh ha more area has been covered under oilseeds in the current season.

Likewise, rapeseed and mustared coverage has reached about 46.84 lakh ha in the current season which is higher by 15.40 lakh ha compared to last year's 31.44 lakh ha in the corresponding period.

Larger area has been covered in Rajasthan (+10.32 lakh ha), Haryana (+1.25 lakh ha) and Madhya Pradesh (+ 2.96 lakh ha).

In case of pulses, the normal area is 116.29 lakh ha. About 66.02 lakh ha been covered so far against 55.63 lakh ha during the corresponding period last year, which indicates that about 10.39 lakh ha more area has been covered.

Among pulses, an additional 5.91 lakh ha area has been covered under gram, compared to last years.

In case of lentil and peas also, higher area is reported.

Higher area coverage is reported in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh which are the major rabi pulses producing states.

UNI BKS/KAS SG RAI1956