By Pramod Kumar Jha
New Delhi, Wheat production in the country is expected to touch new heights as the acreage of wheat sowing has gone beyond 330 lakh hectares this Rabi season, coupled with favourable weather conditions.
The acreage of sowing of pulses, including gram and oilseeds, has also increased this Rabi season as compared to the last year.
According to the data released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare on Friday, the sowing of wheat has been done in 330.20 lakh hectares which is 11.18 per cent more than the previous year, while the total acreage of sowing of Rabi crops is recorded to be 641.39 lakh hectares.
Last year, the acreage of sowing of Rabi crops was recorded to be 590.64 lakh hectares.
Farmers across the country have sown gram in 105.35 lakh hectares which is 9.91 lakh hectares more than the previous year, whereas the total acreage of pulses has been recorded at 157.33 lakh hectares, 7.8 lakh hectares more than the last year.
The acreage of sowing oilseeds has also increased to 79.5 lakh hectares. However, the sowing of mustard has gone down by almost 31,000 hectares as it was recorded to be 68.98 lakh hectares.
Gyanendra Pratap Singh, Director, Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR), Karnal, told IANS that the weather is currently favourable for wheat crop and if it remains the same, one can expect record wheat production in the country.
G.P. Dixit, scientist and project coordinator, Indian Pulses Research Institute, Kanpur, said, “Production of pulses was less in the Kharif season due to heavy rains, but in this Rabi season, it seems to be good. Hence, we can expect that good production of pulses in this Rabi season can be largely compensated. We can expect record gram production.”
