India's kharif sowing area has shrunk from a year earlier, to 1,115.31 lakh hectares as of 2 October 2026 against 1,127.12 lakh hectares at the same point of 2025-26, a fall of 11.81 lakh hectares, AgroSpectrum reported from the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare's crop-wise sowing data.
The fall is concentrated in rice, maize and cotton, while pulses, coarse cereals and oilseeds gained area overall. This season's sowing is still 10.85 lakh hectares above the normal of 1,104.46 lakh hectares, but 18.96 lakh hectares below last year's final coverage of 1,134.27 lakh hectares.
Rice covered 433.62 lakh hectares, down 15.56 lakh hectares from 449.18 lakh hectares a year earlier, the largest drop of any crop, though still 21.62 lakh hectares above its normal of 412 lakh hectares.
Pulses rose to 122.39 lakh hectares from 119.82 lakh hectares, just below their normal of 123.64 lakh hectares. Tur grew to 47.93 lakh hectares from 46.43 lakh hectares, and urad to 26.57 lakh hectares from 23.60 lakh hectares.
The report notes that acreage alone does not settle the harvest: yields, crop condition, rainfall distribution and harvesting will decide output. For rice, the figure matters because the crop carries great weight in India's foodgrain supply, procurement and food-security framework.
Photo: Nikhil.irri / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Source: AgroSpectrum
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