As the rabi sowing season nears its end, acreage of most crops barring wheat is almost same as last year, raising hopes that if the weather remains benign in the next few months India could have a bumper rabi harvest.
The acreage under wheat which is marginally down as compared to last year as on Thursday is not likely to have much of an impact on the final output as area in the four major wheat growing states of Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh is almost same as last year. The shortfall in acreage is only in Maharashtra, which is not a big producer of wheat.
According to the latest government data, wheat has been sown in around 27.27 million hectares across India as on December 27, just 1.45% less than last year. The acreage is almost 1 million hectares more than the normal area (average of last five years).
“As of now sowing of wheat is normal in almost all parts of the country, but the final output will depend on the weather in next few months,” a senior government official said. Uniform winter with some moisture in the air is considered ideal for proper growth of wheat crop.
Among other crops, pulses have been sown in around 13.25 million hectares of land till Thursday, just 1.20% less than the area covered during the same period last year. Oilseeds have been sown in around 7.88 million hectares, 98,000 hectares more than last year or 1.25%, mainly on account of good mustard sowing.
Coarse cereals have been sown in around 5.62 million hectares till Thursday, almost 1.92% more than the corresponding period of last year. The only letdown has been in rabi rice which has been planted in around 187,000 hectares as on December 27, 2012, almost 38% less than last year because of poor northwest monsoon rains over South India.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), northwest rains have been around 19% below normal till December 19 since October.
This could hurt any plans to push up India’s total rice production in 2012-13 as paddy production during the previous kharif season is also expected to be around 6.5% less than 2011-12.
However, it is unlikely to have any impact on rice prices as government has ample stocks in its warehouses to meet any shortfall. As on December 1, the rice stocks in central pool were estimated to be around 30.60 million tonnes, as against the requirement of 12.8 million tonnes.
In total, rabi crops have been planted in around 54.22 million hectares, just 0.8% less than last year.