Sowing of rabi crops such as wheat, pulses, oilseeds and coarse cereals have commenced at a fast pace, with the total area under the crops touching 7.57 million hectare (Mha), or 12% of the normal sown area for the full season, according to data from the agriculture ministry released on Monday.
The sown area of winter crops is up15% on year.
While the sowing windows is still in the middle of January, the higher sowing indicated availability of adequate soil moisture due above normal monsoon this season.
Wheat, the main rabi crop, has been sown in 0.37 Mha, an increase of 46% over last year. Yet these are early days as sowing is expected to get a boost in coming four weeks especially in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh with normal sown area of 31.23 Mha.
The area covered under pulses — gram, masoor and urad — has increased by 23% to 1.49 Mha on year so far.
The above-normal monsoon has helped fill up major water reservoirs and recharged groundwater tables, improving soil moisture, and the possibility of longer winter months due to the developing La Nina conditions would help overall crop prospects, an official said.
Urea imports doubled in Apr-Oct, adequate buffer for rabi crops
The fertiliser ministry said on Tuesday that urea import has more than double to 5.86 million tonne (MT) during April-October 2025-26 compared to only 2.47 MT in the same period in FY25 aimed at ensuring adequate supply of fertilizers to the farmers during the just concluded kharif season.
“This rise in imports not only met the enhanced demand of urea during kharif 2025 but also helped to build adequate buffer stocks for the upcoming rabi season,” the ministry stated.
As a result, the overall urea stock increased from 4.8 MT on October 1, 2025, to 6.8 MT by October 31, 2025. Against the projected requirement of 18.5 MT of urea in kharif season, the availability was 23 MT which was far excess of the sales of 19. MT.
“This reflects sufficient all India availability of urea. Evidently, farmers have consumed more urea in kharif-2025 to the tune of approximately 0.4 MT as compared to Kharif 2024”, the ministry stated.
In FY25, against the sales of 38 MT, the domestic production of urea was around 30.6 MT and imports were 5.7 MT leading to supply disruption.