The area under wheat sowing has increased by 1.40 per cent to 337.18 lakh hectares (ha) so far in the ongoing Rabi (winter) season of the 2022-23 crop year (July-June), according to the agriculture ministry data released on Friday. The sowing of wheat, the main Rabi crop, had begun in October, and harvesting will start in March/April.
Farmers had sown wheat on 332.52 lakh ha in the year-ago period.
A higher acreage has been reported from Uttar Pradesh (2.92 lakh ha), Rajasthan (2.52 lakh ha), Maharashtra (1.01 lakh ha), Bihar (0.81 lakh ha), Chhattisgarh (0.65 lakh ha), Gujarat (0.54 lakh ha), West Bengal (0.09 lakh ha), Jammu & Kashmir (0.07 lakh ha) and Assam (0.03 lakh ha).
The higher acreage, if good weather conditions prevail during the grain-filling stage, would lead to a new record production of 112 million tonnes (mt) this year, according to official sources.
Last year, wheat production declined to 106.84 mt due to heatwave in the key growing states. Before that, in the 2020-21 crop year, the country had achieved a record wheat output of 109.59 mt.
As per the data, paddy has been grown on 6.60 lakh ha more area at 26.22 lakh ha till January 13 of the ongoing Rabi season. This is likely to offset the losses incurred in the Kharif (winter) season of this year due to unseasonal rains and drought in some parts of the country.
In the case of pulses, the total acreage has increased marginally to 161.09 lakh ha so far this Rabi season as against 159.44 lakh ha in the year-ago period. The area under gram remains slightly lower at 109.56 lakh ha.
The area under nutri-cum-coarse cereals has increased to 50.02 lakh ha as against 47.71 lakh ha in the year-ago period. In the case of oilseeds, the acreage has increased to 107.52 lakh ha till January 13 of this Rabi season as against 99.65 lakh ha in the year-ago period.
Among oilseeds, the rapeseed/mustard area remains higher at 96.85 lakh ha in the period.
The total area covered under all Rabi crops remains higher by 23.08 lakh ha at 682.02 lakh ha as against 658.94 lakh ha in the year-ago period.