With temperatures dropping by two to four degrees below normal in many parts of the North, including Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, sowing of wheat has picked up pace, as fog and chill are considered ideal for early growth of the crop.
The area under wheat, till Friday, across the country was estimated to be around 24 million hectares, 400,000 hectares more than the same period last year.
The rise has come from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, while sowing in the big wheat-producing states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh is marginally more than last year.
In Madhya Pradesh, the area under wheat is almost 16 per cent more this year, till now, at 4.4 million hectares against 3.79 million hectares last year. The normal sown area in a year has been 3.89 million hectares.
Officials said announcement of an additional bonus by the state government over and above the minimum support price set by the central government has encourage a large number of farmers in Madhya Pradesh to shift towards wheat, largely at the expense of mustard and pulses.
The government has targeted to produce 84-85 million tonnes of wheat during 2012-13, crop-marketing year that would start from April.
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Sowing of oilseeds and pulses has fallen below last year’s level after the initial buoyancy. This was mainly due to a shift towards wheat and also dry weather in the main growing regions.
Officials said sowing of both oilseeds and pulses began at a brisk pace, but the intensity tapered as growers shifted to wheat to take advantage of the benign climate.
According to the latest data from the agriculture ministry, the area under pulses, till Friday, was estimated to be 12.94 million hectares, almost 108,000 hectares less than last year.
The area under oilseeds during the current sowing season till now is estimated to be 7.55 million hectares, almost 7.3 per cent less than last year.