India rabi crop sowing edges higher, momentum slows

: Agriculture, Fertilizers
21/01/19

The sown acreage of India's winter rabi crops has nudged higher, but the increased area sown over last year's season has begun to shrink.

Sown acreage rose to 65.19mn hectares (ha) at the end of last week, up by 1mn ha on a year earlier (see chart). Sowing stood at 64.4mn ha on 8 January, but the acreage was 1.64mn ha greater than the 2019-20 area at that point in the season.

The long-term seasonal average between 2014-15 and 2018-19 is 62mn ha.

Sown acreage of wheat, the largest component of the rabi crop, hit 33.7mn ha as of 15 January, up by 2pc on a year earlier. Wheat typically accounts for more than half of rabi sown acreage.

Madhya Pradesh wheat sowing up, but short of target

Increased wheat sowing in the northern central state of Madhya Pradesh has helped drive the overall rise, with the state raising sowings by 991,000ha on a year earlier.

The state currently has the second largest rabi wheat crop by area at 8.8mn ha, against a long-term seasonal mean of 5.76mn ha.

But this lags behind the state's ambitious target of 10.28mn ha for the season, which would have resulted in it becoming the country's largest sower of winter wheat, overtaking its northern neighbour, Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh sowed 9.74mn ha against a seasonal target of 9.91mn ha.

The sowing of pulses, the second-largest component of the rabi crop, has continued to rise, hitting 16.2mn ha, up from 15.9mn ha a year earlier. Gram sown acreage accounted for 10.9mn ha.

Oilseed sown acreage rose to 8.3mn ha, up by 4.6pc on a year earlier.

The increased sown acreage of wheat, pulses and oilseeds, the three main components of the overall rabi crop, follows a government increase of the minimum support price of all three crops for this season.

It has raised procurement centres for wheat by 50pc and tripled centres for pulse and oilseed crop purchases during the Covid-19 pandemic.

By Harry Minihan

India rabi crop sowing

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25/12/19

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Brazil's 2025-26 soy planting at 94.1pc

25/12/16

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25/12/16

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