20pc more seeds available for rabi season than required

The availability of seeds for sowing in the 2023-24 rabi (winter) season for crops like wheat is estimated to be 159.03 lakh quintal, which is 20.70 per cent more than the country's overall requirement.

According to agriculture ministry data, the overall seeds requirement is estimated to be 131.75 lakh quintal for the 2023-24 rabi season. Sowing of rabi crops begins from October, while harvesting starts from March/April. Wheat is the main rabi crop. As per the ministry's data, the availability of wheat seeds is estimated to be 123.43 lakh quintal, as against the requirement of 102.63 lakh quintal for the rabi season of this year.

The availability of sorghum would be 1.04 lakh quintal for the rabi season, as against the requirement of 0.74 lakh quintal. In case of rabi pulses, the availability of chickpea seeds would be 25.04 lakh quintal, as against the requirement of 21.38 lakh quintal, while the seeds supply of black gram would be 1.49 lakh quintal, as against 1.14 lakh quintal in the said season.

Likewise, the availability of lentil seeds is pegged at 2.88 lakh quintal during the rabi season of this year, as against the requirement of 2.29 lakh quintal, while green gram seeds supply would be 1.45 lakh quintal, as against the requirement of 0.94 lakh quintal. As far as rapeseed-mustard seeds is concerned, the availability would be 3.70 lakh quintal during the rabi season, as against the requirement of 2.63 lakh quintal.

The agriculture ministry has urged farmers to go for climate resilient crops during the rabi season amid the challenges of climate change. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has developed more than 800 climate resilient crop varieties.