India: Maharashtra may cut area under chana and wheat, shift to maize and jowar

Maharashtra, the second largest producer of chana and sixth largest for wheat in the country, plans to cut area under chana and wheat by 27% and 20% respectively during the Rabi season. Instead, it plans to increase area of crops like jowar and maize, which need comparatively less water. Above-normal temperatures in October, low reservoir levels and chances of El Nino impacting the ensuing winter season have increased worries of farmers from rain-fed areas. Increasing area under jowar and maize would also help increase availability of fodder in rain-fed areas, where farmers have already started using sugarcane as fodder, said officials of the agriculture department. In its plan for the rabi season, Maharashtra's agriculture department has planned to reduce area planted under rabi chana to 21.52 lakh hectares, down from last years chana acreage of 29.66 lakh hectares. The state government plans to reduce the area under wheat from 12.28 lakh hectares last year to 10 lakh ...