Steady pace: Wheat acreage rises 5.4% due to favourable prices

Highest week-on-week numbers since 2017-18; hopes of strong harvest

Wheat sowing continued at a brisk pace during the week ended December 2 and so far around 21.16 million hectares has been brought under the crop, which is 5.38 per cent more than during the same period last year and the best since 2017-18.

In 2017-18, during the same period, it was 19.06 million hectares till December 2, which is the last available comparable data period.

Apart from wheat, the sowing of other rabi crops such as mustard and chana continued at a steady pace during the week, which has raised hopes of a strong harvest if the weather remains favourable during the next few months.

For crops like mustard, the area till December 2 is higher than the normal for the full season even as sowing is nearing its end.

The data shows so far mustard accounts for around 7.66 million hectares while the normal area (which is the full-season average area) is around 6.3 million hectares.

For chana (gram), the crop has been planted in around 7.98 million hectares, which is 15.15 per cent higher than the area covered during the same period last year.

Overall, rabi crops were planted in around 45.06 million hectares till Friday -- 6.40 per cent higher than the area covered during the same period last year.

Meanwhile, there is some concern about the weather and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) in its winter season forecast has said in the core rabi regions of North-West India, winter may be slightly warmer than usual this year.

If there are wild fluctuations in day temperatures and they are unusually higher than normal, the germination of crops may be hindered and that may affect yields.

The Met said the minimum and maximum temperatures could remain “normal” to “above normal” over most parts of North-West and North-East India. But, it could remain below normal in the Southern Peninsular and Central India in winter months.

On the impact of a warm winter on the standing rabi crops of North India, namely wheat and mustard, IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said it would depend on the stage of the crop and could not be guessed as of now.

The fact that fluctuating weather and climate change could have a debilitating impact on agriculture has been brought out succinctly in a recent report of the International Panel for Climate Change, which said climate change could lower yields of rice, wheat, pulses, coarse and cereals in India by almost 9 per cent by 2050.