The government has fixed a target of 171.14 million tonnes (mt) of foodgrains
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KAMAL NARANG
Early sowing is helping India to continue witnessing a higher coverage in rabi crops compared with the year-ago period. Now, with an early onset of winter with cold wave gripping many parts of the northern India, farmers are expecting the yield to improve this year, helping the government to achieve its production target.
The total area under all agriculture crops was 10.3 per cent higher at 208.19 lakh hectare (lh) as of November 14 against 188.73 lh a year ago. The area under barley is up by 50 per cent. The total area was 27 per cent higher as of November 7.
Last year, the total area under all rabi crops was 663.04 lh and the foodgrains production was a record high of 167.22 million tonnes (mt) and that of oilseeds 13.57 mt.
This year’s target
The government has fixed a target of 171.14 million tonnes (mt) of foodgrains which include 119 mt of wheat, 15.86 mt of rice, 16.57 mt of pulses, 3.17 mt of nutri cereals, 14.5 mt of maize and 2.05 mt of barley, as well as 15.07 mt of oilseeds (including 13.9 mt of mustard).
According to latest data compiled by the Agriculture Ministry, the area under wheat as of November 14 was 66.23 lh (up 17%) against 56.55 lh a year ago.
Karnal-based Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR) has advised farmers to complete sowing by November 20 if they intend to do it this month and select high-yielding varieties suited to timely sowing conditions.
It also has asked farmers who have sown wheat in October to ensure timely weed control and provide the first irrigation 20-25 days from the date of planting for a healthy crop. Regular monitoring of the field is recommended to prevent early-season damage, it said. Farmers who sowed wheat in the first week of November need to irrigate 20-25 days from date of sowing.
Chana acreage up
Among other crops, the sowing area under rabi paddy was 9.2 per cent higher at 7.44 lh from 6.82 lh and maize 17.4 per cent more at 4.26 lh from 3.63 lh. Barley acreage was at 1.83 lh from 1.22 lh and jowar at 8.82 lh against 8.21 lh. Total acreage under nutri/coarse cereals was 15.53 lh, up 15.1 per cent from 13.50 lh.
In pulses, which reached 52.82 lh against 48.93 lh a year ago, the area under chana (gram) was 37.43 lh against 34.04 lh, up by 10 per cent and masur (lentil) acreage was 12.2 per cent higher at 6.83 lh from 6.08 lh.
The oilseeds acreage was 66.17 lh as of November 14, up by 5.2 per cent from 62.93 lh and it included coverage of 64.23 lh under mustard, 6.1 per cent higher from 60.52 lh year-ago, according to data.
Published on November 17, 2025