NEW DELHI: Wheat sowing has begun with the crop covering 4.28 lakh hectare in the ongoing rabi season, up by 55 per cent from a year ago, the Agriculture Ministry has said.

Wheat is the main rabi crop and sowing starts from October, with harvesting from April.

As per the latest government data, wheat has been sown in 4.28 lakh hectare so far in this rabi (winter) season, as against 2.76 lakh hectare in the year-ago period. Area under paddy has increased to 9.51 lakh hectare from 6.25 lakh hectare, while oilseed acreage has risen to 29.79 lakh hectare from 19.91 lakh hectare in the said period. However, pulses sowing has not picked up yet as area covered is down at 24.16 lakh hectare so far this rabi season as against 30.07 lakh hectare in the year-ago period. Similarly, sowing area of coarse cereals was down at 13.84 lakh hectare as against 29.92 lakh hectare in the same period last year. The area under all rabi crops was marginally down at 81.58 lakh hectare so far this rabi season when compared with 88.92 lakh hectare in the year-ago period. It may be noted that farmers are waiting for the government to announce the support price of rabi crops to take call which crop to grow in this rabi season.—PTI