Area under kharif planting drops by 1.90% over previous year

NEW DELHI: The kharif planting season ended with a drop in acreage over last year’s figure. According to latest numbers from the agriculture ministry, kharif crop planting has covered 1,052.38 lakh hectare from June up to September 28, a 1.90% drop from 1,072.79 lakh hectare a year earlier.

Oilseeds and sugarcane saw the increase while rice, pulses, coarse cereals and cotton saw the decline. Meanwhile, data from the weather department shows monsoon rainfall has been 9% below normal so far this year.

The country’s 91 major reservoirs held 17% more water as on Thursday, compared with last year and 5% more than the 10-year average at 122.514 billion cubic metres.


Rice planting saw a 2.37% decrease over the previous year at 384.19 lakh hectare.

In coarse cereals the planting fell by 5.85% to 175.35 lakh hectare. Major cereals from jowar to bajra saw the dip, while maize acreage remained similar to the previous year.

The area of pulse cultivation too dropped 3.76% to 135.52 lakh hectare. Major dip was seen in uradbean. Area under tur and moon remained higher than the previous year. Area under cotton was 1.53% lower at 122.38 lakh hectare.

Planting of oilseeds, chiefly soyabean, sunflower and castor increased while groundnut, sesamum and niger fell, taking total planting from the previous year to 1.56% increase at 175.92 lakh hectare.

Sugarcane was planted on 51.59 lakh hectare, up 9.09% from a year earlier.