Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said in his statement that according to the information received, so far more than 24 lakh hectares have been sown as compared to last year. He said that due to favorable soil moisture, better water storage and proper availability of fertilizers, rabi sowing will pick up pace in the next 1-2 months. In this situation, the hopes of a good Rabi crop have increased. An official statement by the agriculture ministry said that till the last week of November last year, rabi sowing was done in about 335 lakh hectares. At the same time, sowing has been done in about 359 lakh hectare so far in this season. Wheat has been sown in about 153 lakh hectares this year due to higher sowing in the main wheat producing states. While last year till this time wheat was sown only in 138 lakh hectare, which is about 15 lakh hectare more than last year. According to the data received from the Ministry of Agriculture, at present about 150 billion cubic meters of water is available in the major 143 reservoirs of the country, which is 106 percent of the previous year and 119 percent compared to normal. The soil moisture in these districts was higher than the average moisture of the last seven years from November 15 to 21. The availability of essential fertilizers in ravi season is also sufficient. While 57 lakh tonnes of urea was needed in the country till November 16, the government has ensured availability of 93 lakh tonnes. As per the data, till November 16, while the requirement of DAP was around 27 lakh tonnes, its availability was around 37 lakh tonnes and the sale was around 25 lakh tonnes. As per October data, the monthly demand of urea was around 36 lakh tonnes, while the availability was only 31 lakh tonnes and the availability of DAP was only 15 lakh tonnes against the monthly demand of about 18 lakh tonnes. Due to huge shortfall in yield, procurement of wheat during Rabi Marketing Season 2022-23 (April-March) could be only around 188 lakh tonnes, which is less considering the last 15 years figures. However, government figures show a shortfall of around 3 million tonnes compared to the 2021-22 crop year (July-June). Market experts say wheat prices in India are on a steady rise despite being free from global impact after ban on exports in view of supply issues.