Kharif sowing lags last year’s pace by 2.9% despite July monsoon revival

New Delhi: Kharif crop sowing continued to lag last year's pace despite an improvement in monsoon rainfall, with farmers planting crops across 89.4 million hectares as of 31 July, 2.65 million hectares less than the 92 million covered during the corresponding period a year ago, according to data from the agriculture ministry. The normal (2020-21 to 2024-25) kharif acreage was 110.46 million hectares.

Acreage under key kharif crops, including rice, pulses, coarse cereals 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. In contrast, oilseeds and sugarcane recorded an increase in sown area.

Rice acreage stood at 30.14 million hectares, down 689,000 hectares from 30.8 million a year ago. Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana lagged in sowing area, while Assam, West Bengal, Bihar,Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh reported higher acreage.

Pulses were sown across 9.5 million hectares, down by 641,000 hectares from 10.1 million hectares last year. Among major pulses, arhar, moong, and mothbean lagged behind previous levels, falling by 353,000 hectares, 301,000 hectares, and 172,000 hectares, respectively. In contrast, urdbean saw a marginal increase, rising by 203,000 hectares to reach a total of 2.1 million hectares. Sowing declined primarily in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha, while Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Gujarat recorded gains.

The sowing area under Shri Anna (coarse cereals) fell to 15.7 million hectares from 17.0 million hectares a year earlier, mainly due to lower maize and bajra sowing. Sowing declined in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Odisha, Haryana, Telangana and Gujarat, but increased in Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Bihar.

However, oilseed sowing improved marginally to 17.2 million hectares from 119,000 hectares last year, supported by higher acreage under groundnut and sesamum, although soybean acreage remained slightly lower. Lower sowing was reported in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka, and higher sowing in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Cotton acreage also trailed last year's level, declining to 10.35 million hectares from 10.6 million hectares, while sugarcane sowing increased modestly to 5.75 million hectares from 5.67 million hectares.

"If rainfall remains favourable over the coming weeks, acreage under rice, maize and moongbean is expected to catch up, improving overall kharif coverage before the sowing window closes,"said AK Singh, former director and vice-chancellor of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi.

July resurgence

The sowing lag narrowed in recent weeks as the monsoon revived across key agricultural states. According to official data, India received 1% above-normal rainfall in July, a sharp turnaround after a 35% deficit in June.

The recovery came despite the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasting on 30 June that rainfall in July would remain below normal, at less than 94% of the long-period average (LPA). India received 283.3 mm rainfall during July against the LPA of 280.5 mm.