After Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan presided over the meeting, the Ministry of Agriculture in New Delhi said that the cultivation of rice, beans, coarse grains and oils has expanded this Kharif season. As of May 2, Paddy’s sowing increased by 3.44 million hectares compared with the previous year, while legumes increased by 2.2 million hectares, the ministry said.
Until the above dates in 2023-24, Paddy’s planting area was 2.857 million hectares, and this year, it has risen to 3.202 million hectares. The ministry said: “Pulse seeding increased to 2.067 million hectares in 2024-25, compared with 18.47 billion hectares in 2023-24.” Moon and Ullard 1.7 million hectares and 0.5 million hectares were added respectively.
Senior officials informed the union’s Minister of Agriculture Mr. Chouhan at the meeting that there was also an increase in sowing onions and potatoes in 2024-25 compared with 2023-24. “There is 282,000 hectares added to onion seeding, which is from 976,000 hectares in 2023-24 to 1.258,000 hectares in 2024-25. According to the ministry, both tomato and onion seeding are going smoothly during this season. During this season, seeding of these three crops is underway.
The meeting also reviewed weather conditions and water availability in the reservoir. “Total water storage is better than last year. The storage space available in 161 reservoirs in the same period last year was 117%, accounting for 114% of the average storage space over the past 10 years,” the ministry said.
The ministry said that in terms of grain cereal stocks, actual stocks of rice and wheat are above buffer standards. “The actual inventory of rice is 38.905 million tons [LMT] Buffering standard for 135.80 LMT. For the buffering standard of 74.60 LMT, the actual stock of wheat is 177.08 LMT. Therefore, for the buffering standard of 210.40 LMT, the actual inventory of rice and wheat is 566.13 LMT. ”
The meeting also decided to launch a campaign to promote scientific agriculture. A team of agricultural scientists will visit about 700 villages in the country to promote agricultural technological innovation.
publishing – May 12, 2025 10:17 pm ist
