Rabi Sowing Down As of 18 January 2019, the total rabi planted area was down 4.8 percent versus 2017/18. While wheat is among the crops affected, pulses and coarse cereals, most especially pearl millet, are down significantly (see table below). The overal oilseed area has been good, however, as those crops are down just 0.9 percent with mustard/rapeseed the only one showing an increase and sunflowers suffering the greatest decrease within that category.

This drop in rabi area may be one reason why prices of the key crops that have alternate uses are rising. An example of this is pearl millet, which is a coarse grain grown in North India that is mostly used as food and in feed. It’s inclusion rate in poultry feed rations could be 1...