The total area sown under kharif crops stood at 658.19 lakh hectares as of July 17, 2026, compared with 700.47 lakh hectares during the corresponding period last year, according to data released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on Tuesday.
The latest figures show that while rice sowing has remained largely stable, acreage under pulses, coarse cereals, oilseeds and cotton has declined compared to the same period in 2025.
Rice cultivation covered 166.41 lakh hectares, marginally lower than 167.83 lakh hectares recorded a year ago, reflecting a decline of 1.41 lakh hectares.
The sharpest reduction was seen in pulses, where the sown area fell by 12.29 lakh hectares to 69.23 lakh hectares, compared to 81.52 lakh hectares last year. Among pulse crops, arhar (tur) recorded a decline of 5.36 lakh hectares, followed by moong at 2.97 lakh hectares, moth bean at 2.87 lakh hectares, and urd bean at 0.85 lakh hectares.
Area under Shri Anna (millets) and coarse cereals also witnessed a significant drop, declining by 15.06 lakh hectares to 119.03 lakh hectares. Bajra accounted for the largest fall, with acreage reducing by 9.08 lakh hectares, while maize, jowar, ragi and small millets also registered lower sowing compared to the corresponding period last year.
Sowing of oilseeds declined by 8.63 lakh hectares to 147.09 lakh hectares. The reduction was led by soybean, where acreage fell by 5.02 lakh hectares, followed by groundnut at 3.17 lakh hectares. Smaller declines were also recorded in sesamum and castor, although sunflower and niger registered marginal increases.
The area under cotton stood at 92.53 lakh hectares, down by 5.87 lakh hectares from 98.40 lakh hectares during the same period in 2025.
In contrast, sugarcane and jute & mesta recorded modest gains. Sugarcane acreage increased to 57.58 lakh hectares, an increase of 0.86 lakh hectares, while jute and mesta cultivation rose marginally by 0.13 lakh hectares to 6.32 lakh hectares.
