Area sown to wheat has increased marginally to 233.71 lakh hectare so far in the ongoing rabi season from the same period a year ago, but coverage of other crops especially pulses and rice was still lagging behind, according to the Agriculture Ministry data released on Friday.

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Sowing of rabi (winter) crops begins from October and harvesting from March onwards. Wheat is the main rabi crop.

Wheat was sown in 233.59 lakh hectare in the same period of rabi season in the 2017-18 crop year (July-June).

As per the ministry's latest data, wheat acreage in Punjab has increased marginally to 34.34 lakh hectare so far this season from 33.92 lakh hectare a year ago.

Similarly, the area sown to wheat in Haryana has improved slightly to 24.11 lakh hectare from 23.32 lakh hectare in the said period.

The sowing operation in these two states is almost completed, while it is underway in states especially Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

Farmers in Madhya Pradesh have planted wheat in more area at 44.57 lakh hectare so far this season when compared with 37.91 lakh hectare in a year ago.

However in Uttar Pradesh, wheat sowing was still lagging behind at 76.70 lakh hectare so far this season as against 81.90 lakh hectare in the same period last season. 

In Rajasthan too, the acreage was slightly down at 23.49 lakh hectare as against 25.42 lakh hectare in the said period.

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As per the ministry's data, total pulses area was down at 125.40 lakh hectare so far this rabi season as against 138.29 lakh hectare in the year-ago period.

Oilseeds acreage was also slightly down at 70.22 lakh hectare as against 70.58 lakh hectare in the said period.

Coarse cereals area remained lagging behind at 37.55 lakh hectare so far this rabi season as against 47.16 lakh hectare in the year-ago. 

Rice acreage was also down at 9.24 lakh hectare as against 12.86 lakh hectare in the said period.

Total area sown to all rabi crops remained down at 476.12 lakh hectare so far this rabi season from 502.48 lakh hectare in the year ago period.