Rabi acreage larger than last year for most crops; mustard down, shows data

Most of the rabi crops sown covered a larger area than last year during the week ended December 2. However, in the case of mustard, the acreage was trailing lastyear’s levels by 5.25 per cent, data published by the agriculture department showed.  The drop in mustard acreage could be attributed to low price realisation by oilseed farmers, especially those growing soybean and groundnut in the kharif season.  Though wheat sowing exceeded last year’s, concerns remain about the crop’s sowing time. Several farmers said their sowing was delayed due to extended monsoon and difficulty in procuring Di-Ammonia Phosphate (DAP), a critical input. The government said that rabi sowing was progressing smoothly and a sowing window was still available for all crops. It was expected to achieve normal area (which in the case of most crops was the average acreage of the past five years).