Indian Expects Smaller Pulse Crop
VANCOUVER - Dec 23/11 - SNS -- Seeding of this year's rabi or winter season crops is winding down, with the India's farmers seeding less land than last year on account of unfavorable weather conditions in some growing areas.
Wheat and groundnut are the only crops, which India's agriculture departments says are up over last year. Contrary to initial indications, land in gram or chickpeas is down sharply from this time last year, sinking 4.3% from 8.968 to 8.578 million hectares, with the result land in all rabi season pulses is down 0.8% at 13.521 million hectares.
Looking at the difficulty farmers had expanded pulse seedings this winter and the reduction in the kharif or summer harvest, India's Pulse Exporters Association said it doubts the country will grow more than 17 million metric tons (MT) of pulses during the entire 2011-12 marketing year.
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