NEW DELHI/MUMBAI, Nov 11 (Reuters) – Indian farmers have planted wheat on 4.5 million hectares since Oct. 1, when the present sowing season started, up 9.7% from a yr in the past, the newest information from the farm ministry confirmed on Friday.

The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare will preserve updating the provisional crop sowing figures because it gathers extra info from state governments.

In India, wheat is principally produced within the northern states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and the central state of Madhya Pradesh.

The planting figures are additionally topic to revision relying on climate circumstances.

Late rains in October and November raised soil moisture ranges and helped farmers carry in additional space underneath wheat, the principle winter crop, growers mentioned.

India grows just one wheat crop in a yr, with planting in October and November, and harvests from March.

India, the world’s second-biggest wheat producer, was pressured to ban exports of the staple in May this yr, after a sudden rise in temperatures in March lower crop yields.

Despite the ban, wheat costs have soared to a file excessive, prompting the government to weigh measures equivalent to the discharge of state reserves into the open market whereas axing the 40% tax on imports to chill costs.

Sowing of rapeseed, the principle winter-planted oilseed reached 5.5 million hectares, up from 4.8 million hectares a yr in the past, based on the farm ministry.

Higher rapeseed output will assist India, the world’s greatest cooking oil importer, to chop costly purchases of edible oils from Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil, Argentina, Russia and Ukraine.

In the fiscal yr to March 31, 2022, New Delhi spent a file $18.99 billion to import vegetable oils, prompting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to voice issues about India’s rising vegetable oil import invoice.

As a part of efforts to scale back India’s dependence on edible oil imports, New Delhi has granted environmental clearance for indigenously developed genetically modified mustard seeds, a part of the rapeseed household.

Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj and Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Andrea Ricci

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