This rabi season, Indian wheat acreage gains at the cost of oilseeds, pulses

The area under oilseeds and pulses is lower but wheat coverage is higher during the current rabi season. As of December 20, 93 per cent of the normal area has been covered with 32 lakh hectares (lh) of it last week. This development poses a policy challenge for the government, which targets to make the country self-sufficient in edible oils and pulses. The season’s normal (last five years’ average) area is 635.60 lh.

Farmers have shifted from rabi oilseeds such as mustard and groundnut as they prefer stable prices. Though oilseed prices were higher in 2022 and 2023, they have dropped in 2024. Prices of oilseeds such as soyabean are currently ruling below the minimum support price (MSP), forcing farmers to look at financial safety, said trade sources.

The area under pulses is lower as higher imports are beginning to put pressure on domestic prices. Currently, pigeon peas or arhar is quoted at ₹7,931 a quintal against the MSP ₹7,550. Gram (chana prices are currently ruling at ₹6,552 against the MSP (fixed in 2023-24 as it is a rabi crop) of ₹5,650, urad (black matpe) prices at ₹7,350 against the MSP of ₹7,440 and that of moong (green gram) at ₹6,976 compared with the MSP of ₹8,682.

According to Grains Australia, India imported 82,481 tonnes of the 109,622 tonnes of chickpeas shipped by its growers in October, the highest since 2017 when 136,891 tonnes were exported. During the entire Australian 2023-24 marketing season (October-September) India imported 83,367 tonnes.

In a related development, India on Tuesday extended the duty-free import of yellow peas until February 2025. All these have resulted in a setback in the sowing of oilseeds and pulses during the current rabi season.

The total area under all rabi crops reached 590.82 lh as of December 20, which is a tad lower from 590.97 lh in the year-ago period.

Though official sources blame hot weather conditions until mid-November for lower planting of oilseeds and plants as farmers feared germination issue, industry sources said the procurement system in oilseeds and pulses should be as robust as paddy and wheat to shift farmers’ preference.

The sowing of all pulses has reached 125.64 lh against 126.89 lh, down by 1 per cent. Chana (gram) area reached at 86 lh, which is 1.9 per cent higher from 84.42 lh, but acreage of masur (lentil) has dipped 4 per cent at 17.06 lh from 17.76 lh. As the normal pulses area in rabi season is 140 lh, industry experts said there could be some recovery noted in other than chana crop and the final acreage still may be around 135 lh against 137.39 lh last season.

Sowing of wheat, the key rabi season’s cereal, continued its lead despite a delayed start and is now up by 2.5 per cent at 312.28 lh from 304.77 lh in the year-ago period. Experts have voiced concerns over delayed sowing of wheat this year as its normal window closes by November 20 in the north-west region. States like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are paying bonuses for wheat over and above the minimum support price (MSP) of ₹2,425/quintal, whereas the open market rates are also very high this year. The atta (wheat flour) price has already crossed ₹40/kg in the wheat-growing belt.

The government has fixed the production target of 115 million tonnes (mt) for wheat, 14.55 mt for rice, 12 mt for maize, 13.65 mt for chana, 1.65 mt for masur, 13.8 mt for mustard and 2.25 mt for barley during current Rabi season. The acreage of crops is the key factor to determine production as farmers normally select crops which command higher prices in the market.