Increase in area under sorghum and millet

- Bhoo Bazar : Dilip Shah

- Coarse grains market witnessed mixed weather

The grain market in the country has seen a reversal of equations recently. Before this, sorghum, maize, millet, barley, ragi vs. The demand for grains which are considered thick and coarse used to be limited, but now there have been signs of a significant increase in the demand for such grains. For such thick grains, the government has also recently shown a lot of activity to popularize such grains and due to this, its positive impact on the demand of such grains has also been seen. Meanwhile, the country's grain market has seen maize prices rise recently. Amidst weather uncertainty in various corn growing regions, the recent corn planting guidance showed slow progress and consequently corn prices were seen moving higher. Progress in maize planting in kharif planting was slow. There were indications that such planting has been slow in Maharashtra and Karnataka. Maize prices have increased in the grain market. In South India, the price of maize was Rs.1800 a kilo, now it was Rs.2100. In Erode area in the south, prices were seen up to Rs.2400. In Sangli, Maharashtra, the prices rose to close to Rs.2500. The government had previously fixed the support price of maize at Rs.2090/- and the spot price of maize in the grain market has been quoted higher than such support price. The informants were showing the possibility that the new arrivals of the maize kharif crop will start in the market from September. In the period before such incomes started, the market price of corn was estimated to be high overall, the grain market informants were showing.

Maize cultivation figures have been released recently and according to these figures, the area under maize cultivation in the period up to mid-July is around 45 to 46 lakh hectares. During this period, the cultivation of maize in Karnataka has decreased in the area of ​​6 to 7 lakh hectares, which was in the area of ​​10 to 11 lakh hectares in this period last year. It was recently reported that the cultivation of maize in Maharashtra has decreased from 6 lakh hectares to about three and a half lakh hectares.

In Orissa and Telangana too, there were indications of a decline in the area under maize cultivation this year. During this period, irregular rainfall was seen in Karnataka and Maharashtra. However, during this period, there were also reports that the cultivation of maize in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh has increased as compared to last year. In Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Bihar, farmers have also received directions that the area under maize cultivation has increased during this period. Maize consumption is high in the poultry sector and according to sources in the sector, maize market prices have gone up by around 18 to 20 per cent in recent months. Meanwhile, due to rising temperatures, sorghum cropping in the form of wheat cropping is likely to prove more ideal from now on. Meanwhile, according to sources in the country's agriculture ministry, the progress of monsoon rains has picked up recently after being sluggish at the beginning of the season. However, the area under millet cultivation in the country has increased by about 48 to 49 percent to 53 to 54 lakh hectares in the Kharif season.

While in this period, the area under sorghum cultivation in the country has increased by approximately 23 to 24 percent and has reached the level of 9 to 10 lakh hectares. On the whole, during this period, the total area under cultivation of various coarse grains in the country increased by 18 to 19 percent and reached the head of 110 to 111 lakh hectares, said the sources of this sector. Meanwhile, as per the directions received from Uttar Pradesh, the government there has started considering providing millet rotas, millet chapatis and millet khichdi to children in schools. Such distribution will be done in about one and a half lakh schools in Uttar Pradesh. The grain market informants were showing that the requirement of 61 to 62 thousand tons of millet will arise for this plan.