India has sown wheat over a record area of 330 lakh hectares, taking the total planted area in the current rabi season to 641 lakh hectares, which is 8.6 per cent more than that sown in the corresponding period last year, according to data released by the Agriculture Ministry on Friday.

“The maximum wheat sown area in the past was a little over 320 lakh hectares. That way this a record of sorts. And the crop condition this year is very good,” said RK Sharma, Principal Scientist at the Karnal-based Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Institute, a lab under the aegis of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.

While Madhya Pradesh has sown wheat over an area of 78 lakh hectares, about 19 lakh hectares over last year, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra planted wheat over an additional area of 5.6 lakh hectares, 4.5 lakh hectares and 3.86 lakh hectares, respectively, over the corresponding week last year.

Farmers have planted pulses over an area of 157 lakh hectares as against 150 lakh hectares in the same week last year. Much of the increase has been reported from Maharashtra, which brought an additional area of 7.74 lakh hectares under pulses, Rajasthan (6.35 lakh hectares) and Gujarat (2.16 lakh hectares). Madhya Pradesh, on the other hand, planted nearly 9 lakh hectares less under pulses.

The area under coarse cereals is up by 13.5 per cent to over 53 lakh hectares. The coarse cereals acreage in the corresponding week last rabi season was less than 47 lakh hectares. Jowar, which has been planted over an additional area of 4.65 lakh hectares, accounted for much of this increase.

Even though mustard planting is a tad lower than last year's 69.28 lakh hectares, the total area under oilseeds moved into positive territory with a marginally higher groundnut acreage.

Oilseeds had been sown on 79.25 lakh hectares till this week. Rice transplanting in Telangana and Tamil Nadu were 2.56 lakh hectares and 1.4 lakh hectares higher than the corresponding week last year, respectively, taking the total area under rice cultivation to 21.41 lakh hectares, more than 18 per cent higher than the last winter season.