Kharif

Food inflation could remain elevated through the festive season as uneven monsoon rains, kharif crop uncertainties, El Nino risks and higher global food prices put pressure on household budgets

Area sown till August 28 was also nearly 3 per cent below normal, while IMD's forecast of below-normal September rains puts focus on the remaining monsoon weeks

According to the latest data, till August 21, 2026, kharif crops were sown on around 105.67 million hectares of land, which was just 1.5 per cent less than in the same period last year.

Sowing of kharif crops, which typically picks up with the onset of the southwest monsoon in June, was delayed this year on account of El Nino conditions.

Jain said overall, the group expects rural demand to remain more resilient than in previous episodes of monsoon-related stress, even as growth moderates from current levels

Despite recent heavy rainfall, cumulative monsoon deficits remain. Here's why the timing and distribution of rain matter as much as seasonal totals for agriculture

India is the ‌world's largest rice exporter, accounting for about 40% of global shipments and the biggest importer of vegetable oils such as palm oil, soyoil and sunflower oil

Gaps in the area under all crops - oilseeds, pulses, soybean, groundnut, urad, moong and maize - narrowed compared to the previous week

This happened even as the monsoon entered a weak phase, as the rains in the previous fortnight provided sufficient soil moisture to start planting

Erratic monsoon rains have slowed kharif sowing in Rajasthan, leaving key crops below target and raising the risk of delayed planting and resowing

Total sowing of kharif crops, including paddy, declined to 350.85 lakh hectares, a 21 per cent decrease from 442.8 lakh hectares last year, agriculture ministry data showed on Monday, citing low rainfall amid delayed progress of the southwest monsoon. As per the data, paddy acreage is down by 13 per cent to 60.24 lakh hectares till July 6 in the ongoing kharif season compared with 69.3 lakh hectares last year. The pulses sowing has also declined to 37.15 lakh hectares from 47.49 lakh hectares last year, the data showed. The area under coverage for Shri Anna cumulative coarse cereals fell to 60.12 lakh hectares from 71.86 lakh hectares. Sowing area under oilseeds declined sharply to 66.31 lakh hectares from 109.27 lakh hectares last year, the data showed. Cotton sowing also dropped to 63.18 lakh hectares from 82 lakh hectares last year.

Agricultural experts say resilient traditional rice varieties such as Kala Namak can help farmers withstand delayed monsoons and weather-related stress during the kharif season

India currently has around 19.98 million tonnes of fertilisers in stock, which means it has almost 52 per cent of the total reassessed requirement in stock as of today

Uttar Pradesh aims to boost kharif food grain and oilseed output by 20% as it pushes to become a global agriculture hub by 2047

Kharif 2026 conference today amid El Nino shadow on monsoon

The jump in subsidies is expected as the country plans to import 6.4 million tonnes of urea and 1.9 million tonnes of other fertilisers this kharif season at high prices

Indian Potash Limited has also started scouting for imports of 2.5 million tonnes of urea from global markets

The Centre on Wednesday asserted that the country has an adequate supply of seeds and agro-chemicals for the upcoming Kharif season, and asked states to check hoarding, black marketing, smuggling and diversion of fertilisers for non-farm usage. Addressing an inter-ministerial briefing on recent developments in West Asia, Maninder Kaur Dwivedi, Additional Secretary in the Agriculture Ministry, said, "The most important input is seeds. There is an adequate availability of seeds for the upcoming Kharif (summer-sown) sowing season". She said the total estimated requirement of seeds for the Kharif 2026 is 166.46 lakh quintals, while the availability is 185.74 lakh tonnes. So, there is a surplus of 19.29 lakh tonnes. Dwivedi noted that there is enough supply of seeds for all major crops. She said the total availability of seeds for paddy crop is 80.9 lakh quintals, soyabean 35.7 lakh quintals, groundnut 21.1 lakh quintals, and maize 11.9 lakh quintals. The availability of seeds is ...

India has fast-tracked fertiliser imports to safeguard supplies for the kharif sowing season as the West Asia crisis disrupts gas shipments, and shipping routes, government sources said on Saturday. India has brought forward a global tender for urea imports and ordered 13.5 lakh tonnes of fertiliser by mid-February. About 90 per cent of this order is expected to arrive by the end of March, the sources said. Urea, India's most consumed and heavily subsidised fertiliser, is produced domestically at around 30-31 million tonnes annually, with imports of 6-10 million tonnes bridging demand shortfalls. Production is heavily dependent on natural gas. India also imports phosphatic fertilisers, including Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) and NPK compounds. A five-year supply contract with Saudi Arabia for 3 million tonnes of DAP remains intact with "no force majeure," the sources said. Supplies of urea, DAP and NPK from Russia and Morocco are flowing uninterrupted via the Cape of Good Hope ...

The first advance estimate pegs India's 2025-26 kharif rice output at 124.50 mt while total foodgrains production is projected to rise to 173.33 mt despite localised weather damage