Rajasthan Likely to See Rise in Mustard and Gram Sowing, Drop in Wheat Acreage
17-Oct-2025 11:10 AM
Jaipur. Compared to last year, the area under mustard and gram is expected to increase significantly in Rajasthan during the current Rabi season, while the area under wheat is expected to decrease slightly.
Barley acreage is also expected to increase slightly as it has generated good income for farmers. Sowing of other Rabi crops is likely to remain normal.
The targets set by the Rajasthan Agriculture Ministry for sowing various Rabi crops indicate that the area under mustard production in the current Rabi season is expected to increase to 3.6 million hectares, which is higher than last year's actual sowing area of 3.372 million hectares.
Similarly, the area under gram is estimated to reach 2.19 million hectares, compared to 1.693 million hectares last year.
It is noteworthy that Rajasthan is the country's leading mustard producer, contributing 45 to 49 percent of the country's total production.
Since the wholesale market price of mustard has been high for the past several months, and the Central Government has also significantly increased its Minimum Support Price (MSP), farmers are expected to become more enthusiastic and interested in cultivating this most important oilseed crop of the Rabi season. Sowing is expected to pick up pace soon.
Rajasthan is among the top producers of chickpea. Interest in its cultivation is also expected to increase significantly due to the increase in its MSP and the reasonable market price.
Imports from abroad are declining. If a significant import duty is imposed on yellow peas, chickpea cultivation could increase significantly.
Although the Central Government has also made a good increase in the MSP of wheat and during the last season, bonus was also given to the wheat producers in Rajasthan due to which government procurement increased there,
but this time the inclination of the producers is more towards mustard, gram and barley, hence it seems difficult to increase the sowing of wheat.