By Pramod Kumar Jha

New Delhi, Dec 30 (IANS): Sowing of rabi crops, including wheat and gram, is in full swing and if the weather remains favourable the output is expected to be good this season.

The rabi crop acreage has increased 6.62 per cent (3.549 million hectares) over the last year. As per the Agriculture Ministry data, wheat has been sown in 29.702 million hectares, which is a rise of 2.627 million hectares (9.70 per cent) over the last year.

At the same time, the area under the rabi crop has been 57.184 million hectares against 53.635 million hectares during the same period last year.

The acreage of pulses has been 14.013 million hectares, which is 330,000 hectares more over the same period of last year.

However, the oilseed crops acreage has declined by 60,000 hectares to 7.412 million hectares over the last year.

Gyanendra Pratap Singh, director of the Indian Wheat and Barley Research Institute (IIWBR), Karnal, under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), told IANS, "If the weather remains favourable, we can expect the higher wheat yield against the last year."