Rabi Crops

With the weather likely to improve in the days to come, the moisture content in wheat is expected to go down, helping the crop fetch a better price

Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday announced that the government agencies will buy 3 lakh tonnes of onion once the winter harvest starts coming in. Goyal, who handles the Consumer Affairs, Food and Public distribution portfolio, said that last year, the overall buying of the rabi harvest stood at 2.5 lakh tonnes. "I have already ordered an increased onion purchase from Rabi harvest from 2.5 lakh tonnes last year to 3 lakh tonnes this year to ensure that farmers get a fair price," Goyal told reporters here. He added that the National Cooperative Consumers Federation and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) have also been instructed to pick up 'late kharif' harvest stocks, but are not finding the produce in the markets now. Growers in Maharashtra have been protesting after a steep fall in onion prices over the last month. Marketplaces, including the largest one in Nashik district's Lasalgaon, have been shut down and onions have also been dumped

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Tuesday said preliminary reports suggest that there is not much impact on standing rabi crops like wheat due to the current untimely rains and hailstorm. The minister, however, said that the Centre is yet to receive ground reports from the state governments. Speaking with PTI on the sidelines of an event, Tomar said, "There is not much impact on rabi crops as per the preliminary assessment." The state governments are still assessing the damage to the standing rabi crops, he said. The state governments can use the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) for providing immediate relief to farmers after conducting the crop survey. The central government can provide more funds from the National Disaster Relief Fund after the submission of a memorandum, he added. Wheat is the main rabi crop, harvesting of which is underway in some states. Mustard and chickpea are other major rabi crops. Many parts of the country received unseasonal rains, hail and

The actual impact of the rains on crops such as wheat, mustard, etc will be known after the assessments

The data related to monsoon and crop production for the decade suggest that despite uneven monsoon rains over the years, Indian agricultural output has remained largely immune to rainfall patterns

The prolonged dry spell in Himachal Pradesh has caused severe damage to the rabi crops and the maximum loss of Rs 2,857.78 lakh has been suffered in the Hamirpur district of the hill state, officials said on Thursday. As per the report of field officers from across the state, out of 4,01,853 hectares, crops on 85,538.20 hectares of land have been damaged due to inadequate/ deficient rains. In five districts of Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Mandi, Shimla and Sirmaur up to 33 per cent of Rabi crops have been damaged. The total loss to the crop was estimated at Rs 9,462 lakh rupees so far in ten out of 12 districts in the state barring the tribal areas of Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti, a spokesman of the Agriculture department said. The crop damage was below 33 per in the remaining five districts, the spokesperson added. Rainfed areas have been hit the most by the weather. The crops of wheat, barley and peas have been affected due to lack of rain, he said. Areas where farmers were completely

The area covered under chana (gram), which is the biggest pulses grown in the rabi season, was around 11.2 mn hectares, which was 1.8% less than last year but 13.36% more than the normal area

The country's wheat output is expected to be 112 million tonnes in the 2022-23 crop year, almost five million tonnes more than last year's rabi harvesting season, with rise in area under high-yielding varieties contributing to this, said Gyanendra Singh, Director of Karnal-based ICAR-Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR). Singh ascribed expected increase in wheat production to favourable weather conditions, increase in acreage and rise in area under high-yielding crop varieties. "We are having a good winter. Planting has been done timely. Everything as of now is very good," said Singh when asked about wheat crop sown. On area under wheat cultivation in the country, Singh said area under the winter crop this season was around 33 million hectares, which was expected to be up by 1.5 million hectares over last year. Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan are among key growing areas for the wheat crop in the country. "I am expecting 112 million tonnes

As the sowing of rabi crops almost comes to a close, the total area under wheat has gone up by 3.59 per cent to 325.10 lakh hectare (ha) from over the year-ago period, according to the agriculture ministry data released on Friday. Sowing of wheat, the main rabi (winter) crop, had begun from October onwards. Maize, jowar, gram and mustard are other major rabi crops. Harvesting of these crops will begin in March/April next year. According to the latest data, farmers have sown wheat in more area in 325.10 lakh ha till December 30 of the current rabi season of the 2022-23 crop year (July-June) against 313.81 lakh ha during the same period last year. The higher area was reported in Uttar Pradesh (3.59 lakh ha), Rajasthan (2.52 lakh ha), Maharashtra (1.89 lakh ha), Gujarat (1.10 lakh ha), Bihar (0.87 lakh ha), Madhya Pradesh (0.85 lakh ha), Chhattisgarh (0.66 lakh ha), West Bengal (0.21 lakh ha), Jammu & Kashmir (0.08 lakh ha), Assam (0.02 lakh ha) and Jharkhand (0.03 lakh ha), it ...

Area sown to wheat has increased by 3.18 per cent to 312.26 lakh hectares (ha) so far in the ongoing rabi (winter) season with higher acreage reported from Rajasthan, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, according to the agriculture ministry's data released on Friday. Agriculture Secretary Manoj Ahuja on Thursday had said the crop prospects were bright as the current weather conditions are conducive for plant growth and better yields. Sowing of wheat, the main rabi (winter) crop, begins in October while harvesting in April. Mustard seed and gram are other major crops sown in the rabi season of the 2022-23 crop year (July-June). As per the ministry's data, wheat has been sown in 312.26 lakh ha as of December 23 of the ongoing rabi season, as against 302.61 lakh ha in the year-ago period. "Thus 9.65 lakh hectare more area has been covered compared to last year," the ministry said. Higher area is reported from Rajasthan (1.99 lakh ha), followed by Gujarat (1.74 lakh ha), Uttar Pradesh (1.57 la

Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday said the agriculture sector remains resilient, and the rabi sowing has got off to a strong start. However, India is expecting some moderation in kharif production due to uneven rainfall. India's total kharif crop production is estimated to moderate to 149.92 metric million tonnes (MMT) from 156.04 MMT in the previous kharif crop year, as per the first advance estimate. On the supply side, Das said, "The agricultural sector remains resilient. Rabi sowing got off to a strong start. The area sown so far is 6.8 per cent higher than the normal sown area (as on December 2, 2022)". Area sown to wheat has increased by 5.36 per cent year-on-year to 211.62 lakh hectares in the first two months of the ongoing rabi (winter) season, with higher coverage being reported in Rajasthan, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, according to the agricultural ministry data released on Friday. The sowing of wheat, the main rabi crop, begins in October and harvesting i

Highest week-on-week numbers since 2017-18; hopes of strong harvest

Usually wheat is sown in around 30.5 million hectares of which so far around 15.28 million is already sown

The state wants to encourage farmers for crop diversification and go for wheat, gram, and peas in this season

Mustard is usually sown in 6.4 million hectares, and sowing in almost 4.6 million hectares is complete till Friday

Edible oil body plans sow the seeds in 200 out of the 1,000-odd model mustard farms that it plans to set up this season

An official clarification made later says approval has come from GEAC, which is authorised to do so, and not from MoEF

However, this year, traders and market sources are hopeful that there could be a 10-15 per cent rise in wheat acreage

Harvesting of paddy has been delayed in the main states of Punjab, Haryana, UP and even Madhya Pradesh because of late withdrawal of southwest monsoon which has left the fields wet

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday the hike in the minimum support price of several Rabi crops will further energise the agriculture sector. The government on Tuesday hiked the minimum support price (MSP) of six Rabi crops by up to 9 per cent, with Rs 110 per quintal increase for wheat crop to boost domestic production and farmers' income. Wheat MSP has been raised by 5.45 per cent to Rs 2,125 per quintal from Rs 2,015 per quintal to encourage more area under the crop amid tight government stock position owing to low procurement, fall in production and higher exports. Modi noted that farmers are important partners in the country's development and said the government has approved increase in the MSPs of all essential Rabi crops, including wheat, lentils, and barley.