The effect of high prices of wheat and mustard is visible in the area sown for the current Rabi season (2022-23). Farmers have sown wheat and mustard in larger areas in the hope of better prices. According to the latest figures released by the Ministry of Agriculture on November 25, while the area under wheat is greater than that last year up to the same period by 14.53 lakh hectares (ha), that under mustard is greater by 8.93 lakh ha. While the sowing of wheat is going on and the correct picture of its area will emerge in the days to come, the area under mustard has already exceeded the level of average area. The total area under crops in the current Rabi season so far is greater than that last year by 24.13 lakh ha. While the area under Rabi crops stood at 334.46 lakh ha up to November 15 last year, it has gone up to 358.59 lakh ha for the same period this year.
According to the Ministry, about 152.88 lakh ha of area coverage has been reported up to November 25 compared to 138.35 lakh ha during the corresponding period of last year. The wheat acreage is greater than that last year in most states, including Madhya Pradesh (MP), Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Chhattisgarh. On the other hand, it is less so far than that last year by 1.05 lakh ha in Haryana, by 1.95 lakh ha in Himachal Pradesh (HP) and nominally so in Uttarakhand and Jharkhand.
The acreage for pulses in this Rabi season is nominally less than that last year. About 94.26 lakh ha of area coverage has been reported up to November 25 in the current Rabi season compared to 94.37 lakh ha during the corresponding period last year.
The area under oilseeds has gone up by 9.06 lakh ha as compared to last year. According to the figures released by the Ministry, about 75.77 lakh ha of area coverage has been reported for oilseeds up to November 25 compared to 66.71 lakh ha during the corresponding period of last year. The area coverage for oilseeds has gone up in MP, Rajasthan, West Bengal, UP, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Nagaland and Tamil Nadu in comparison to last year. While the average acreage for mustard is 63.46 lakh ha in the country, the area sown has already reached 70.89 lakh ha this year — an increase of 8.93 lakh ha from the 61.96 lakh ha in the year-ago period.
A massive increase has been registered in wheat prices due to less production of wheat in the last Rabi season. The wheat prices had already exceeded the Minimum Support Price (MSP) in the Rabi Marketing Season. Due to this, while the MSP for wheat was Rs 2,015 per quintal, the farmers sold wheat at prices of up to Rs 2,200-Rs 2,300 per quintal to the private sector. This led to public procurement of wheat reaching a 14-year low. Also, farmers got prices of mustard, too, above MSP due to a massive surge in edible-oil prices. This has led farmers to sow mustard in a greater area this year in the hope of better prices.