New Delhi: The total crop area sown under this year’s Kharif season was nearly 39 lakh hectares less compared to last year despite recent rain spells in the second half of July, which continued into the first week of August, government data shows.
According to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), a total area of 787.38 lakh hectares was sown in the Kharif season this year—till the fourth week of July—compared to 836.19 lakh hectares sown during the same period last year. This was a shortfall of 38.81 lakh hectares.
A senior official from the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare said that multiple reasons, including a rainfall deficit, are believed to be behind this shortfall.
“We expected this. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has already forecasted a season of deficit rains, which would understandably impact agricultural production and yield as well. We are keeping a close eye and doing everything to cushion this for the farmers,” the official told ThePrint.
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From rice to maize
The ICAR data shows that rice remained the most sown Kharif crop this year, with a sown area of 234.43 lakh hectares, followed by soybean with 113.65 lakh hectares. However, both these crops individually saw a shortfall.
In 2025, the area sown under rice was 240.62 lakh hectares, 6.19 lakh hectares more than this season. Soybean saw a shortfall of 3.59 lakh hectares. The legume was sown in 117.24 lakh hectares of area last year.
A similar trend was seen in other crops as well.
Data shows that bajra (pearl millet) and maize were the worst hit this season. From 58.08 lakh hectares in 2025, the sown area fell to 49.54 lakh hectares this year—an 8.54 per cent fall. The area under maize fell from 88.15 lakh hectares to 77.79 lakh hectares.
Cotton and groundnut also saw a shortfall of 3.99 lakh hectares and 0.57 lakh hectares from the last season.
Senior officials from the IMD and the agriculture ministry said that the coming weeks are expected to be rough for India’s farmers. The season is forecasted to end with a rainfall deficit, which is likely to be counterproductive to Kharif crops.
“Most of the agricultural belt in India is already recording a rainfall deficit, and that gap is expected to increase after August 10. Apart from local factors, there are global factors like El Nino, which is also at play this year,” IMD director general M Mohapatra said.
(Edited by Saptak Datta)