September 7, 2009

India aims to increase is area planted to wheat by about two percent in the 2009-10 winter season starting October to make up for a shortfall in summer-sown crops, Federal Farm Commissioner N.B. Singh said Friday (Sept 4).

He said the government would aim for a wheat area of 28 million hectares, compared with 27.5 million hectares last year.

India, the world's second largest wheat producer, had a bumper wheat crop of 80.5 million tonnes last year. Annual Indian wheat consumption is about 70 million tonnes.

Singh said the government plans to increase the wheat yield to an average three tonnes a hectare from 2.7 tonnes/hectare by supplying farmers with better seed varieties.

India's annual monsoon rainfall was 22-percent below normal as of Thursday (Sept 3), leading to a 17-percent drop in acreage of summer-sown rice. Both, wheat and rice are the two staple grains.

Late rains during the last two weeks have raised the winter crop's prospects, Singh said.