Indian farmers are likely to plant more wheat in the current season that began on October 1, compared with the year before, reversing the fall in sowing so far, Agriculture Secretary T. Nanda Kumar said on Tuesday. The area under wheat cultivation up to the end of last week fell marginally to 8.4 million hectares from 8.5 million in the same period a year ago.

 

"The area under wheat had fallen marginally due to late harvest of sugarcane in Uttar Pradesh. The loss will be compensated by higher area in Punjab and Haryana," Kumar told reporters, referring to two key wheat-growing states. "Wheat acreage will eventually go up in Uttar Pradesh also," he added.