India's Kharif Crop Sowing Declines: A 6% Dip from Last Year

India's kharif crop sowing area decreased by 6.04% to 658.19 lakh hectares as of July 17, 2026, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare. Significant drops were seen in pulses, with a 15.08% decrease, and coarse cereals down 11.23%. In contrast, sugarcane and jute saw marginal increases.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, India has witnessed a decline in the kharif crop sowing area, registering a 6.04% decrease from last year, summing up to a total of 658.19 lakh hectares as of July 17, 2026. This drop is spread across vital crops like rice and pulses.

Rice, India's primary kharif crop, saw a slight dip of 0.84% with acreage reducing to 166.41 lakh hectares. More notably, pulses faced a sharp decline of 15.08%, plummeting to 69.23 lakh hectares from 81.52 lakh hectares a year ago. Specific pulse varieties such as arhar, moongbean, and urdbean also reported significant acreage reductions.

Coarse cereals such as Shri Anna experienced an acreage drop of 11.23%, while bajra plunged by 18.50%. Despite these declines, some crops like sugarcane and jute registered modest increases in their sowing areas, offering a silver lining amid an otherwise challenging year for Indian agriculture.