Crop Report
India kharif sowing up 5% on yr as of Fri; oilseed area drops
This story was originally published at 20:34 IST on 4 August 2025
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MUMBAI – Farmers across the country have sown kharif crops over 93.29 million hectares as of Friday, over 5% higher than 88.79 million hectares a year ago, according to data released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. An early onset and good progress of the southwest monsoon boosted sowing of kharif crops across the country.
Among kharif crops, paddy acreage rose the highest--16.7% on year to 31.94 million hectares. However, oilseed acreage slipped 4% on year to 17.1 million hectares from 17.81 million hectares a year ago. Except for castor seed, acreage of all major oilseeds registered a decline as of Friday. Soybean sowing dipped the most – to 11.85 million hectares from 12.35 million hectares. Groundnut acreage fell to 4.16 million hectares from 4.35 million hectares.
India has been pushing oilseed cultivation to reduce import dependency to meet cooking oil requirements. "However, due to two consecutive years of low market prices for soybean, many farmers have shifted to alternate crops like maize, red gram and cotton," Soybean Processors Association of India had said earlier in a release. Soybean is the most locally produced oilseed, with Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra leading in output.
The area under pulses fell marginally to 10.12 million hectares as of Friday from 10.15 million hectares a year ago. While tur or arhar sowing dipped 7% on year to 3.83 million hectares, moong area rose over 3% on year to 3.22 million hectares.
The acreage of coarse cereals, promoted as "Shri Anna" by the government, was up nearly 5% on year at 17.26 million hectares, mainly supported by a rise in the area under maize. The area under maize rose to 9.16 million hectares from 8.20 million hectares a year ago.
The area under cotton fell over 2% on year to 10.59 million hectares, while sugarcane acreage rose nearly 3% on year to 5.73 million hectares.
The following table details the sowing of key kharif crops, in hectares, compared with year-ago levels and the year-on-year change in percentage terms:
|
Crop |
Acreage 2025 (ha) |
Acreage 2024 (ha) |
Change (%) |
| Paddy | 31,940,000 | 27,372,000 |
16.7 |
| Tur | 3,832,000 | 4,106,000 |
(-)7 |
| Urad | 1,862,000 | 1,909,000 |
(-)3 |
| Moong | 3,218,000 | 3,113,000 |
3.3 |
| Total Pulses* | 10,122,000 | 10,154,000 |
(-)0.3 |
| Jowar | 1,317,000 | 1,353,000 |
(-)3 |
| Bajra | 6,158,000 | 6,236,000 |
(-)1.3 |
| Ragi | 280,000 | 318,000 |
(-)12 |
| Maize | 9,162,000 | 8,199,000 |
12 |
| Total Coarse Cereals* | 17,257,000 | 16,476,000 |
5 |
| Groundnut | 4,156,000 | 4,345,000 |
(-)4 |
| Soybean | 11,854,000 | 12,345,000 |
(-)4 |
| Sunflower | 58,000 | 66,000 |
(-)12 |
| Total Oilseeds* | 17,103,000 | 17,814,000 |
(-)4 |
| Sugarcane | 5,731,000 | 5,568,000 |
3 |
| Jute | 554,000 | 571,000 |
(-)3 |
| Cotton | 10,587,000 | 10,843,000 |
(-)2 |
| Grand Total* | 93,293,000 | 88,797,000 |
5 |
* Figures may not tally exactly with subtotals and total as crops with low acreage have not been included.
End
Reported by Afra Abubacker
Edited by Avishek Dutta
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