MUMBAI (Commoditiescontrol) – After a lackluster kharif harvest that is likely to dent production of rain-fed crops due to a widespread drought, planting of rabi or winter crops is lagging behind the normal acreage.
India has witnessed a dampened sowing of pulses in the Rabi season to 9.09 million hectares, as on November 27, down 7 per cent, from 9.78 million hectares in the corresponding period, a year and even below the recent five-year average of 9.93 million hectares.
Individually, Rabi sowing of white pea declined more than 28% to 6.18 lakh hectares as compared to 8.68 lakh hectares in the previous year. Similarly, masoor (lentils) sowing also deteriorated more than 28% to 8.42 lakh hectares from prior 11.70 lakh hectares in 2014/15. Urad (Black-gram) sowing also decline more than 1% to 2.37 lakh hectares, against 2.40 lakh hectares in the previous year.
However, sowing for chana (chickpea) and moong (green gram) improved at 65.14 lakh hectares and 1.01 lakh hectares, against 64.58 lakh hectares and 0.95 lakh hectares, respectively in the previous year.
Apparently, Canada origin white pea traded at $370/tonnes on C&F basis for December- January Shipment at Mumbai.
Moreover, international prices of white pea maintained its firm tone last week as expectation on poor production of pulses in this Rabi season intensified.
Furthermore, we see that the delayed kharif seeding in many areas, which resulted in a late harvest, prevented farmers from planting rabi season crops early as normal.
As winter crops are sown with the residual moisture in the soil after kharif crops are harvested, dry soil and a delayed onset of winter has meant lower sowing. While August recorded a rainfall deficit of 22% compared with normal, September saw a deficit of 24%.
(By Commoditiescontrol Bureau; +91-22-40015535)