Despite a good increase in the support price, sowing of some coarse grains is lagging behind

17-Jul-2024 03:06 PM

New Delhi. Although the Central Government has increased the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of coarse grains by 5 to 11.5 percent for the Kharif Marketing Season 2024-25 and there has been good monsoon rains in the major producing states, despite this, the total production area is lagging behind by 7.35 lakh hectares from last year.

This is the situation when there has been a spectacular increase of 15.02 lakh hectares in the sowing area of ​​​​maize. Actually, this time farmers are showing very little interest in the cultivation of millet and are also doing less cultivation of sorghum. 

According to official data, as compared to the year 2023, during the Kharif season of 2024, till July 15, the total production area of ​​​​coarse grains got stuck at 97.64 lakh hectares, down from 104.99 lakh hectares.

Under this, the sowing area of ​​Jowar fell from 8.64 lakh hectares to 7.39 lakh hectares and the area of ​​Bajra slipped from 50.09 lakh hectares to 28.32 lakh hectares, resulting in a decrease in the total sowing area. On the other hand,

the area of ​​Ragi jumped by 1.20 lakh hectares to 58.86 lakh hectares and the area of ​​Small Millets improved from 1.27 lakh hectares to 1.87 lakh hectares.

Although the production area of ​​Bajra can be considered quite normal as compared to the previous years, but the Kharif season of the year 2023 was an exception to this, when due to weak monsoon rains and the fall in the sowing area of ​​some crops,

the farmers' attention got focused on Bajra and they made a strong effort to increase its area. The Central Government has increased the MSP of hybrid jowar by 6 percent to Rs. 3371 per quintal for 2024-25 as compared to 2023-24, the support price of millet by 5 percent to Rs. 2625 per quintal,

the MSP of ragi by 11.5 percent to Rs. 4290 per quintal and the minimum support price of maize by 6.5 percent to Rs. 2225 per quintal.