With a coverage of over 16 lakh hectares (lh) in the past month, sowing of summer (Zaid season) crops, which will end by May, has reached 42.68 lh as of March 20. This is 2 per cent less than 43.69 lh reported in the year-ago period. Zaid crop is grown before kharif sowing and after rabi harvest.
Though the area under pulses and bajra is up, they are not able to make up for the overall drop in summer acreage as both paddy and maize crops’ acreage is lower this time. Farmers seemed to be opting for pulses as per the government plan as all the thrusts are on the crop diversification.
The government has fixed a target of 19.67 million tonnes (mt) of foodgrains production from summer crops which include 12.15 mt of rice, 4 mt of maize, 1.14 mt of nutri cereals and 2.39 mt of pulses in 2025-26 crop year (July-June). The target for bajra (millet) is set at 1.10 mt, urad (black gram) at 0.32 mt, moong at 2.07 mt and oilseeds at 1.37 mt.
Collating data separately
Last year, the summer season’s production was 19.11 mt of foodgrains – 11.28 mt of rice, 3.85 mt of maize, 1.26 mt of nutri cereals and 2.72 mt of pulses. Besides, the output of bajra was 1.23 mt, urad was 0.35 mt, moong was 2.37 mt and oilseeds at 1.33 mt.
Summer crop areas, were earlier included under kharif or rabi season, but the government a few years ago decided to start collating the data separately. The last five year’s average coverage under summer crops is 75.37 lakh hectares whereas the area reached an all time high of 83.92 lh in 2024-25. The share of summer crops was 5.3 per cent in the total foodgrains production of 357.73 mt in 2024-25.
According to the weekly update released by the Agriculture Ministry, paddy sowing was down 3 per cent at 27.86 lh from 28.65 lh, while nutri/coarse cereals area was 12 per cent down at 6.04 lh against 6.84 lh year-ago. Among the nutri/coarse cereals, maize area is 15 per cent lower at 4.24 lh from 5 lh, while bajra has reached at 1.38 lh against 1.35 lh, both ragi and jowar at 0.20 lh, each as on March 20.
MP urad bonus
Area under summer pulses reached 4.09 lh from 3.47 lh, in which coverage of moong reached 2.57 lh, and urad 1.28 lh. The key growers of summer pulses are Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. Summer pulses are key to offset when there is a fall in kharif crops. In 2025-26 kharif pulses production has been estimated at 7.63 mt from 7.73 mt in 2024-25 and Rabi-grown pulses at 16.24 mt against 15.23 mt.
Madhya Pradesh, the main producer of summer moong, recently announced a bonus on the urad crop grown in summer. Announcing the bonus of ₹600 per quintal over and above the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 7,800/quintal for urad, the state government said that the step is aimed at encouraging farmers to shift from moong during the summer (zaid) season.
Oilseeds area in this summer season is lower at 4.69 lh from 4.73 lh and it includes groundnut at 2.97 lh and sesamum at 1.42 lh.
Published on March 24, 2026
