Drought hits rabi acreage of pulses, coarse cereals; sowing falls by 3.41%

Sowing of rabi crops was almost 3.41 per cent less than last year during the week ended January 4 as drought in the October-December period impacted the planting of pulses, mainly gram and coarse cereals.

According to latest data from the department of agriculture, till Friday, rabi crops have been sown in around 56.44 million hectares which was around 1.99 million hectares less than the area covered during the same period last year.

With rabi sowing almost 90 per cent complete and nearing its end in most parts, there is little chance of any sharp recovery in acreage. A big