The sowing area in the ongoing kharif season has reached 531.25 lh as of July 17 compared with 632.69 lh in the year-ago period
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SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
As many as 126.94 lakh hectares (lh) of area were covered under kharif sowing during the July 11-17 period, compared to 67.78 lh a year ago. This has led to a remarkable recovery in the area of sowing, as the overall deficit has now shrunk to 6 per cent, down from 16 percent as of July 10 and 21 percent as of July 5.
The sowing area in the ongoing kharif season has reached 531.25 lh as of July 17 compared with 632.69 lh in the year-ago period, the Agriculture Ministry said in its weekly update. Officials attributed the recovery to rainfall during the first 10 days of this month, when monsoon was 31 per cent surplus.
Kharif season’s main cereal paddy has further narrowed the deficit to less than 1 per cent as of July 17 against a shortfall of 13 per cent until July 5. According to data released by the Agriculture Ministry, paddy has been transplanted in 166.41 lh against 167.83 lh a year ago. The government has set a production target of 123.15 million tonnes (mt) of rice for the kharif season.
Pulses coverage recovers
There has also been a substantial recovery in the acreage of pulses and oilseeds, two critical areas in which India is dependent on imports to meet domestic demand. The area under all pulses reached 69.23 lakh hectares (lh) compared to 81.52 lh, while the area for oilseeds was 147.09 lh compared to 155.72 lh. The deficit in pulses has declined to 15 per cent, down from 23 percent as of July 10, and in oilseeds, it has decreased to 6 per cent from 21 per cent in the same period. Among the 28.92 million tonnes (mt) oilseeds production target set by the government for the current season, soybean’s share is 14.85 mt and groundnut’s is 11.35 mt.
Among pulses, arhar sowing reached 24.80 lh, down 18 per cent from 30.17 lh; moong (green gram) 23.98 lh from 26.94 lh; and urad (black matpe) at 13.51 lh from 14.36 lh. In oilseeds, soybean is down to 106.02 lh from 111.05 lh, and groundnut to 34.52 lh from 37.69 lh. Cotton acreage is now 6 per cent lower at 92.53 lh from 98.4 lh, while sugarcane sowing has been completed. It was reported at 57.58 lh against 56.72 lh a year ago. Jute and mesta coverage, too, is over and was at 6.32 lh from 6.19 lh a year ago, data show.
Nutri-cereals down 11%
The coverage of nutri/coarse cereals has been reported as 11 per cent lower at 119.03 lakh hectares (lh) compared to 134.09 lakh hectares (lh) last year. The area under jowar reached 8.74 lakh hectares (lh) compared to 9.99 lakh hectares (lh) a year ago, while bajra dipped to 39.98 lakh hectares (lh) from 49.05 lakh hectares (lh), ragi declined to 1.06 lakh hectares (lh) from 1.46 lakh hectares (lh), and maize decreased to 67.89 lakh hectares (lh) from 71.50 lakh hectares (lh).
The overall monsoon deficit, which was 37 per cent (as per revised data) in June, has now been reported at 23 per cent during June 1-July 20, India Meteorological Department (IMD) data show. The seasonal rainfall deficit until July 10 was 14 per cent but widened thereafter due to a break. Since July 20, it has been in the surplus zone.
The government has fixed a production target of 176.16 mt of foodgrains, including 8.4 mt of pulses, 31.04 mt of maize and 13.56 mt of nutri cereals during Kharif 2026.
Published on July 20, 2026
