Area under paddy declined 4% to 42.18 million hectares (Mha) in the ongoing kharif season compared to the previous year owing to deficient monsoon rains, the Agriculture Ministry said on Tuesday.
“Overall, the decline in rice area coverage is mainly attributable to substantial reductions in Karnataka, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra,” the ministry noted.
The harvesting of paddy would commence from October. The government has set a procurement target of 70.86 million tonnes for paddy grown this kharif season. A marginal dip in coverage is unlikely to be a concern given hugely surplus rice stocks with the Food Corporation of India.
Overall, the area sown under the kharif crops- paddy, pulses, oilseeds, cotton, sugarcane and coarse cereals—stood lower at 108.63 Mha, 1.6% below the previous year’s level. However uneven distribution according to experts is likely to impact the yield of several crops especially pulses and oilseeds.
Area under pulses, mainly tur, urad and moong, has surpassed last year’s level to 11.71 Mha compared with 11.53 Mha a year earlier.
With a monsoon deficit of 14.4% against the benchmark till Tuesday, overall rainfall (June-September) is likely to be ‘deficient’—below 90% of the benchmark this season. This season’s rainfall is likely to be the lowest since 2009.
Area under oilseeds has declined to 19.19 Mha from 19.3 Mha a year ago, with soyabean area marginally below the previous year’s level at 12.18 Mha.
Cotton area in the current season is 10.91 Mha compared to 10.98 Mha in the corresponding period last year.
“Overall, the decline in cotton area coverage is mainly attributable to substantial reductions in Rajasthan and Haryana, followed by declines in Punjab, which have more than offset the gains recorded in Telangana and Gujarat,” the ministry stated.
About 5.84 Mha area coverage under sugarcane has been reported so far marginally below 5.88 Mha during the corresponding period in the previous year.
About 18.13 Mha coverage under coarse cereals such as bajra and ragi has been reported, compared to 18.24 Mha during the corresponding period last year.
According to consulting firm ICRA’s assessment, the cumulative kharif sowing is set to decline by 1%- 2% Y-o-Y in 2026 from 112.1 Mha in 2025. “However, the non-crop portion has historically supported the overall agri-GVA in El-Nino impacted years,” ICRA has stated.
The government does not foresee any large impact of El Nino on kharif crops yield at present while the overall rainfall has been adequate as per the requirement of various crops, agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had stated last month.