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Area sown to wheat rose 2.77 per cent to Rs 324.38 lakh hectares so far in the ongoing 2024-25 rabi season, while oilseeds acreage remained lower, according to the agriculture ministry data released on Monday. Sowing of wheat, the main rabi (winter) crop, is completed and the harvesting will begin from April. As per the data, wheat acreage increased to 324.38 lakh hectare as on January 27 from 315.63 lakh hectares in the year-ago. Area sown to pulses rose to 142.49 lakh hectares from 139.29 lakh hectares, while sowing of coarse cereals remained flat at 55.67 lakh hectares so far this rabi season. However, total area under oilseeds remained lower at 98.18 lakh hectares as on January 27 as against 108.52 lakh hectares in the year-ago period. Total area sown to rabi crops rose to 655.88 lakh hectares from 643.72 lakh hectares in the said period.
Wheat sowing increased by 1.38 per cent year-on-year to 320 lakh hectare so far in the ongoing 2024-25 rabi season, according to the agriculture ministry data released on Tuesday. Wheat, the main rabi (winter) crop, was sown in 315.63 lakh hectare in the year-ago period. Sowing of most rabi crops is nearing end. Harvesting will begin from April. According to the data, pulses' acreage remained flat at 139.81 lakh hectare as on January 14, compared to 139.11 lakh hectare in the year-ago period. Gram was covered in 96.65 lakh hectare and lentil in 17.43 lakh hectare. Area sown to oilseeds was lagging behind at 96.82 lakh hectare as against 101.80 lakh hectare. Rapemustard seed was sown in 88.50 lakh hectare as on January 14 as against 93.73 lakh hectare a year ago. Sowing of coarse cereals remained flat at 53.55 lakh hectare so far in the ongoing rabi season.
Centre has imposed a stockholding limit on wheat for retailers, wholesalers, processors and big-chain retailers from Monday, to check the hoarding of the foodgrain and to ensure price stability, a senior official said on Monday. Single retailers, big-chain retailers, processors and wholesalers will disclose wheat stocks every Friday, said Union Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra in a press briefing here. Chopra stressed that "I want to dispel the shortage of wheat in the country." He also noted that there is no ban on wheat exports as of now and there is no proposal to review a ban on export of sugar. He stated, "We want prices of wheat to be stable." Chopra further informed that the stock limit for wholesalers will be 3,000 tonnes, while it would be 70 per cent of the processing capacity for processors. For big chain retailers it would be 10 tonnes per outlet with an overall limit for 3,000 tonnes and for single retailers it would be 10 tonnes, he informed. Chopra explained that the
Farmers in Punjab squatted on railway tracks at many places in the state as part of their four-hour 'rail roko' agitation against the value cut announced by the Centre on shrivelled and broken wheat grains due to untimely rains. The protest impacted the movement of many trains and caused inconvenience to passengers. Several farmer bodies including Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) and BKU (Lakhowal) had announced that they would block rail tracks from 12 noon to 4 pm. Protesters squatted on rail tracks in many places including Ludhiana, Amritsar, Bathinda, Ferozepur, Sangrur, Fazilka, Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran. In some places, the protesting farmers even put up tents on the rail tracks. BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan on Tuesday said that farmers restored to the "rail roko" protest against the Centre for imposing the value cut on shrivelled and broken wheat grains for their procurement. He dubbed the government's decision "anti-farmer". In Ferozepur, a
India's stockpile of wheat was above the buffer stock norm at the last scheduled count on October 1 and the next such quarterly review which takes into account seasonal procurement cycle, will be due on January 1. According to a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha by Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal, the minimum buffer requirement changes every quarter, peaking on July 1 when procurement of Rabi crop ends. It dips to the lowest on April 1 as accumulated stocks get released for beneficiaries of government schemes ahead of the new crop coming in. As per the reply, India's wheat stock was 227.46 lakh tonnes on October 1, 2022, as compared to the buffer norm of 205.20 lakh tonnes. The stockpile has since dwindled to 190.27 lakh tonnes as on December 1, 2022, primarily due to the release of foodgrain for supply to poor beneficiaries while hardly any procurement was added to the stockpile. At the next count on January 1, the buffer requirement of wheat is 138 lakh