Wheat sowing almost over;7.1% area up, yellow rust under check

Rabi wheat sowing has seen acreage rise 7.1 per cent to 309.60 lakh hectare, with temperature drop boosting crop growth while yellow rust disease has been kept at bay, the Agriculture Ministry said today.
Although yellow rust disease was spotted in some wheat plants on a "small scale" in Gurudaspur district in Punjab as well as in Jammu, the Centre has taken necessary measures and the disease has not spread further, it said.
"Yellow rust disease was spotted in few plants in Gurudaspur district and even in Jammu. We sent our scientists and took measures to control the spread of the disease. It has not spread further," Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Deputy Director General J S Sandhu told PTI.

The sowing of wheat is almost over now and the coverage so far has been above normal. The recent spell of showers and dip in temperature is benefiting the crop growth, he said.
According to the latest data released by the Agriculture Ministry, wheat has been sown in 309.60 lakh hectare so far in the 2016-17 rabi season, as against 289.07 lakh hectare in the year-ago period.
Noting that the crop condition is really good as of now, Sandhu said that the wheat crop in central India is in a ripening stage, while it is in vegetative stage in North India.

The government is closely monitoring the wheat crop condition as the Met Department has projected warmer winter. If

that happens in the crucial February-March period, it may impact crop yields and bring down production.
Wheat is the main rabi (winter) crop, sowing of which had begun from November and harvesting will start from April.
Barring rice and pulses, sowing of wheat, coarse cereals and oilseeds have almost been completed now.
Rice sowing is lagging behind at 14.92 lakh hectare so far from 19.48 lakh hectare in the year-ago period, due to poor North West monsoon. Tamil Nadu has declared drought in some parts of the State.

Similarly, coarse cereals acreage has declined to 54.87 lakh hectare so far from 58.40 lakh hectare in the year-ago period.
For pulses, area has increased to 155.35 lakh hectare from 139.93 lakh hectare, while that of oilseeeds rose to 81.47 lakh hectare from 75.06 lakh hectare in the said period.
Total area under rabi crop has increased to 616.21 lakh hectare so far this season from 581.95 lakh hectare in the year-ago period.
It may be noted that the sowing data released by the government has a lag of 10-15 days. The final data would be released in the coming weeks.