 "Wheat sowing up 3.36% so far, says Agriculture Ministry")
Area sown to wheat, the main rabi crop, rose 3.36 per cent to 138.35 lakh hectare so far in the current rabi season from 133.84 lakh hectare in the year-ago period, according to the agriculture ministry.
Rabi sowing begins from October while harvesting starts from March onwards. Besides wheat, gram and mustard are the other main rabi crops.
As per the ministry data, wheat has been sown in 35.8 lakh hectare in Madhya Pradesh, 34.98 lakh hectare in Uttar Pradesh, 29.45 lakh hectare in Punjab, 13.78 lakh hectare in Haryana and 13.37 lakh hectare in Rajasthan so far in the ongoing season.
These are major wheat growing states in the country.
Besides wheat, area sown to pulses has increased to 97.53 lakh hectare as on November 26 of this season from 94.02 lakh hectare in the year-ago period.
Area sown to coarse cereals and nutri cereals were slightly lower at 25.87 lakh hectare compared to the year-ago period.
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Oilseeds acreage increased to 76.60 lakh hectare so far this season from 60.15 lakh hectare in the year-ago period.
Total area sown to rabi crops was 346.13 lakh hectare so far this rabi season of 2021-22 crop year, up from 322.70 lakh hectare in the year-ago period, the data showed.
The crop year in India runs from July to June.
Sowing has been undertaken so far in more than 50 per cent of the normal rabi area of 625.14 lakh hectare.