Cold wave, fog to sweep north and east India; scientists say good for rabi crops
rabi crops. "The cold wave conditions in north and other parts of the country are currently conducive to rabi crops and we don't see any major impact," said Ratan Tiwari, director, Indian Council of Agricultural Resrach-Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR), Karnal.India’s rabi crop sowing in 2025–26 has recorded a notable increase in coverage compared to the previous year, with total area sown rising by more than 8 lakh hectares, according to data released by the Union ministry of agriculture & farmers’ welfare on Monday.
The sowing is nearing completion, with the area standing 1.4% higher as of 19 December from a year ago.As of 19 December, the total rabi crop coverage reached 58.07 million hectares, up from 57.25 million hectares at the same stage in the previous crop year, reflecting steady progress in sowing operations across the country. The season's normal rabi area is 63.78 million hectares.The expansion was driven in part by a rise in wheat, rice, pulses and oilseeds acreage.
Wheat and rice sowing areas registered year-on-year increases. Wheat coverage was higher by 1.29 lakh hectares, and rice area saw an increase of 1.83 lakh hectares compared with the same period last year.
Coverage under pulses increased by 3.72 lakh hectares, with gram recording a significant rise of 4.89 lakh hectares against the corresponding period of 2024–25. Oilseeds area, led by rapeseed and mustard, also expanded, reaching 9.33 million hectares.India is projected to post a record increase in the production of major kharif crops this year, with total foodgrain output estimated to rise by 3.87 million tonnes to 173.33 million tonnes, according to the first advance estimates released by agriculture minister Shivraj Singh
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