India's 2009-10 wheat acreage to rise by 15 percent on-year

 

 

A late revival in monsoon rainfall this year could boost India wheat acreage by at least 15 percent in the fiscal year ending March 2010, potentially delivering another bumper crop for the country, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said.

 

India produced a record 80.58 million tons of wheat last year from roughly 27.5 million hectares under wheat cultivation. In the previous year, the country had produced 78.57 million tons of wheat.

 

India has only one wheat crop a year, sown in October and November and harvested mostly in March.

 

Pawar told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview late Tuesday (Sept 8) that plentiful rains from mid-August would improve soil moisture and help the next wheat crop.

 

That is good news for the country which is facing the prospect of a smaller summer-sown crop - mainly rice, pulses and sugarcane - following weak monsoon rains this year.

 

According to India Meteorological Department, average rainfall so far in the June-September monsoon season has been 21-percent below a 50-year average, leading to severe droughts in some parts of the country.

 

Pawar said his ministry has proposed that the government raise the minimum support price for wheat to encourage farmers to grow more wheat this year. He didn’t specify what the recommended price is.

 

Earlier in 2009, the federal government had fixed the state-set purchase price of wheat at Rs10,800 per tonne, for the crop harvested in March.

 

Pawar said the government will consider selling more wheat and rice from government reserves in the open market, after assessing the winter crop.

 

"I am just waiting for the sowing position of the rabi (winter-sown) crop. If rabi sowing is smooth, according to our expectation, we will sell stocks," he said.

 

With state-run granaries bursting at the seams with stocks of wheat and rice, procuring and storing the new crop will be a problem, Pawar said. On July 1, India wheat stocks were estimated at 32.9 million tonnes and rice stocks at 19.6 million tonnes. Under buffer stock norms, the government is required to keep only seven million tonns of wheat on April 1 and 7.2 million tonnes of rice on September 30.

 

He said the government plans to sell wheat and rice, especially in local markets where there has been a rise in prices amid fears about the impact of this year drought.