With more than 3 lakh hectares (lh) higher area sown during past week, compared to the year-ago period, Indian farmers have further bridged the deficit to less than 5 per cent whereas the deficit was as high as 21 per cent until July 5.

Agriculture scientists are hopeful of avoiding any major negative impact on overall crops despite emergence of El Nino as over 71 per cent of sowing has already been completed. However, rainfall in next two months will also to be closely watched as this period is crucial for plant growth.

The sowing area in on-going Kharif season has reached 787.38 lh as of July 24 compared with 826.19 lh in the year-ago period, down by 4.7 per cent, the agriculture ministry said in its weekly update Monday.

As many as 129.19 lh area were covered under Kharif sowing during July 18-24 period, as against only 125.72 lh year-ago.

The overall monsoon deficit, which was 37 per cent (as per revised data) in June, has now reported at 16 per cent during June 1-July 27, India Meteorological Department (IMD) data show. The rainfall during July 1-27 was 3 per cent below normal.

The government has fixed a production target of 176.16 mt of foodgrains including 8.4 mt pulses, 31.04 mt maize and 13.56 mt nutri cereals during Kharif 2026.

Kharif season’s main cereal paddy is down by 2.6 per cent at 234.43 lh against 240.62 lh year-ago. The government has set a production target of 123.15 million tonnes (mt) rice in Kharif 2026 and there may not be any significant shortfall even if acreage ends up a notch below 2025 due to higher area coverage in major growing states.

Official sources said that the paddy acreage in top grower Uttar Pradesh is 4 per cent higher at 57.8 lh from 55.46 lh, Punjab at 31.66 lh from 31.56 lh, Bihar at 17.58 lh from 12.89 lh, Assam at 11.68 lh from 6.76 lh and Andhra Pradesh at 4.74 lh from 4.46 lh.

Madhya Pradesh has reported a major downfall in paddy area at 19.54 lh from 27.39 lh an Maharashtra at 4.9 lh from 8.59 lh whereas other states with lower area included Chhattisgarh (-0.9 lh), West Bengal (-0.9 lh), Haryana (-1.2 lh), Telangana (-0.5 lh) and Odisha (-1.6 lh).

The area under all pulses reached 84.57 lh against 91.46 lh and that of oilseeds at 147.09 lh against 155.72 lh. The deficit in pulses has reduced to 7.5 per cent now from 23 per cent until July 10 and in oilseeds to 2 per cent from 21 per cent in the same period.

Among 28.92 mt oilseeds production target fixed by the government for current season, soyabean has been aimed at 14.85 mt and groundnut at 11.35 mt.

Among pulses, arhar sowing reached at 31.17 lh, down 12 per cent from 35.27 lh, moong (green gram) at 26.89 lh from 28.39 lh and urad (black gram) rose to 18.67 lh from 17.27 lh.

In oilseeds, soybean down to 113.65 lh from 117.24 lh, groundnut to 40.2 lh from 40.77 lh. Cotton acreage is now 4 per cent lower at 98.72 lh from 102.71 lh, while sugarcane sowing has been completed and it was reported at 57.58 lh against 56.72 lh year-ago. Jute and mesta coverage too is over and was at 6.33 lh from 6.20 lh year-ago, data show.

The coverage of nutri/coarse cereals has been reported 12 per cent lower at 142.21 lh against 161.49 lh. Jowar area reached 11.07 lh against 12.45 lh year-ago, whereas bajra dipped to 49.54 lh from 58.08 lh, ragi at 1.56 lh from 2.16 lh and maize at 77.79 lh from 86.15 lh.

On the progressive area coverage, M K Dhanuka, Chairman of Dhanuka Agritech said: “The latest data points to a gradual recovery, but the pace of recovery is not very uniform across crops. While rice and oilseeds have shown encouraging progress, pulses and coarse cereals continue to lag, reflecting continued regional differences in field conditions.”

Dhanuka further said that the emphasis should move beyond the extent of acreage as the quality of crop establishment over the next few weeks will have a greater bearing on productivity.

“The next phase of the season will be defined by how effectively the crop already in the field is managed. Timely access to quality inputs, balanced crop nutrition and region-specific agronomic guidance will be critical in supporting healthy crop development and protecting yield potential,” he said in a statement.

Published on July 27, 2026