According to data released by the Ministry of Agriculture on Friday, Rabi sowing in the country set a new record by covering an area of 675 lakh hectares (lha), nearly 2 percent more than 662 lha planted during the 2019-20 season until the end of this week.
In the current season, sowing is not yet over.
The field planted in the previous season, which was by far the highest, was exceeded by all the big Rabi crops, save for a few coarse cereals. The area of wheat sown in the corresponding week last year was close to 335 lha, which rose marginally to about 336 lha by the end of the previous Rabi season. The area of wheat sown in the corresponding week last year was close to 335 lha. Madhya Pradesh, which planted an additional area of 8.3 lha and Maharashtra 1 lha more, reported much of the increase in wheat sowing.
Additional crops
Gram and mustard are two other crops which, in terms of coverage, have done exceptionally well. Grams were cultivated over nearly 111 lha, while mustard fields occupied nearly 74 lha. The gram and mustard area at the end of the previous Rabi season was about 107 lha and 70 lha, respectively.
The region under rice amounted to close to 30 lha (26 lha). Most of the rice area's increase came from Telangana, which cultivated an additional 3.49 lha of rice.
There is a dip in the field, however, under coarse cereals. Compared with almost 55 lha planted last year in the same week, coarse cereals have so far covered just about 51 lha.
Minister for Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar congratulated the country's farmers on their tireless hard work. 'Amid the corona outbreak, as well as in the Kharif season, farmers have achieved record area coverage under rabi crops, which is exceptional,' Tomar said.
