Wheat sowing down marginally at 333.97 lakh hectares so far this rabi season

New Delhi.Area sown to wheat, the main rabi crop, was down by 1.71 per cent at 333.97
lakh hectares so far in the ongoing 2021-22 rabi season as there was less
coverage in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, according to the
latest data released by the Agriculture Ministry on Friday. Sowing of rabi
(winter) crops like wheat begins in October and harvesting from April
onwards.Wheat was sown in 339.81 lakh hectares in the year-ago period.
As per the data, area sown to wheat was less by 3.11 lakh hectares in Uttar
Pradesh, 1.35 lakh hectares in Haryana, 1.20 lakh hectares in Maharashtra and

Coverage of wheat was lower in Gujarat, Karnataka, west Bengal, Punjab,
Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand as well in the said period

However higher area under wheat was reported from Rajasthan (1.96 lakh
hectares), Bihar (0.68 lakh hectares), Chhattisgarh (0.09 lakh hectares and
Assam (0.01 lakh hectares) in the same period, the data showed.
Much of the wheat sowing has been completed so far.
Barring oilseeds, there was marginally less coverage in area under wheat, rice,
pulses and coarse-cum-nutri cereals as on December 7 of the ongoing rabi
season.
In fact area under oilseeds rose to 98.85 lakh hectares as on December 7 this
rabi season from 81.66 lakh hectares in the year-ago period. Out of which,
rapeseed and mustard seed coverage alone was at 89.71 lakh hectares in the
said period.
This is a good sign considering the country’s heavy dependence on imports for
edible oils.
In case of pulses, coverage remained  at 156.23 lakh hectares so far this rabi
season as against 157.75 lakh hectares in the year-ago period. Out of which,
gram coverage along stood at 109.44 lakh hectares in the said period.PTI