Union Government under the leadership of Sh. Narendra Modi is taking all out efforts to support Indian farmers and agriculture. Ensuring supply of quality seeds, inputs, credit availability, crop insurance are few to list.  This has resulted in large increase in area under rabi crops this year.  

Monitoring of rabi crops sowing revealed that as on 09-12-2022, area sown under rabi crops has increased from 457.80  to 526.27 lakh hectares. This difference of 68.47 lakh hectares is 15% more this year compared to corresponding period 2021-22. The increase in area is across all crops; maximum being in wheat. Out of 68.47 lakh hectares increase in all rabi crops, increase in wheat area is 51.85 lakh hectares from 203.91 to 255.76 lakh hectares.

Next highest increase in area during rabi is in oilseeds. Area under its cultivation increased by 7.55 lakh hectares from 87.65 lakh hectares during 2021-22 to 95.19 lakh hectares this year. The government focus in on oilseeds to reduce import dependency in edible oils. Out of 7.55 lakh hectares increase in area under oilseeds, rapeseed & mustard alone accounted for 7.17 lakh hectares. This is due to Special Mustard Mission being implemented for last 2 years when  area rapeseed & mustard increased by 17% from 68.56 in 2019-20 to 80.58 lakh ha in 2021-22.  During  Rabi 2022-23. 26.50 lakh Seed Minikits of HYV having yield potential of more than 20 quintals per hectare were distributed to the farmers in 301 districts of 18 States under the National Food Security Mission- Oilseeds.

Area under pulses increased by 3.30 lakh hectares from 123.77 to 127.07 lakh hectares.  Gram alone accounted for 2.14 lakh hectares increase out of 3.30 lakh hectares for all pulses. Special programme under National Food Security Mission nicknamed NFSM ‘TMU370’ was launched with aim of increasing productivity of districts having less than state average yields of pulses due to lack of good seed and technological interventions. Based on crop spread and productivity in the districts, 370 districts were focused for cultivation of tur, masoor and urad (TMU). Seed minikits of HYVs to the tune of 19.99 lakh quintals during kharif and 4.54 lakh quintals during rabi season were distributed to farmers.

Coarse cum Nutri-cereals saw a jump of 4.34 lakh hectares in area under their cultivation. This year coverage till date is 36.39 lakh hectares compared to 32.05 lakh hectares in 2021-22. This augurs well as United Nations adopted a resolution declaring 2023 the International Year of Millets, as proposed by India to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). India is at the fore front in celebrating the IYoM in a big way.  The higher production of millets will meet the escalated demands for these nutritive grains due to celebration of IYoM

‘Government emphasis is on increasing productivity of all crops and for this, seed minikits of HYVs are given free of cost to farmers along with technology support and critical inputs. The increased area coupled with higher productivity will achieve a new milestone in foodgrain production in the country. The farmers income will also increase due to higher production and support for remunerative prices.

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