Kharif sowing trails last year’s pace

The total area sown under kharif crops stood at 787.37 lakh hectares as of July 24, 2026, compared with 826.19 lakh hectares during the corresponding period last year, registering a decline of 38.82 lakh hectares, according to data released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare. Among major crops, rice was sown across 234.43 lakh hectares, down from 240.62 lakh hectares during the same period in 2025, a decrease of 6.19 lakh hectares. Acreage of key kharif crops, including paddy, pulses, oilseeds and cotton, remained below last year's levels, although the overall sowing gap has narrowed in recent weeks as monsoon rainfall improved across several regions.
Among major crops, paddy acreage stood at 23.4 million hectares, down by 619,000 hectares from a year ago. Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Haryana, Gujarat, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana lagged in sowing area. Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh reported higher acreage.
Oilseeds were also behind last year's level at 16.3 million hectares, down by 345,000 hectares from last year, led by lower soybean and groundnut acreage. Soybean acreage lagged by 359,000 hectares, while groundnut was lower by 58,000 hectares.
Sowing of Shri Anna (millets) and coarse cereals witnessed the sharpest decline among major crop groups. The area under these crops stood at 142.21 lakh hectares, compared with 161.49 lakh hectares during the corresponding period in 2025, a decrease of 19.28 lakh hectares. Within the category, maize acreage declined by 8.36 lakh hectares to 77.79 lakh hectares, while bajra fell by 8.54 lakh hectares to 49.54 lakh hectares. Sowing under jowar and ragi also declined by 1.38 lakh hectares and 0.60 lakh hectares, respectively.
Among commercial crops, cotton acreage declined to 98.72 lakh hectares, compared with 102.71 lakh hectares last year, a reduction of 3.99 lakh hectares. On the other hand, sugarcane and jute & mesta registered modest gains. Sugarcane was planted across 57.58 lakh hectares, up by 0.86 lakh hectares, while jute and mesta covered 6.32 lakh hectares, an increase of 0.13 lakh hectares over the corresponding period in 2025.
Total pulses acreage declined to 8.4 million hectares, 690,000 hectares below last year. Arhar sowing fell 410,000 hectares, moongbean by 150,000 hectares, and mothbean by 260,000 hectares. Urdbean, however, witnessed an increase in area by 139,000 hectares, with the total area touching 1.86 million hectares.The major states with less area are Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. Higher area noticed in Uttar Pradesh, ,Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and TamilNadu.