Kharif sowing picks up pace, year-on-year acreage gap narrows to 6%

Sowing of kharif crops further picked up pace during the week ended July 17, 2026, narrowing the difference in acreage between 2025 and 2026 to just 6 per cent, down from almost 16 per cent during the week ended July 10, 2026.

 

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

 

Gaps in the area under all crops, be it oilseeds, pulses, soybean, groundnut, urad, moong or maize, narrowed compared to the previous week.

 

Overall, till July 17, 2026, kharif crops were sown in around 65.81 million hectares, which was 6 per cent lower than the area covered during the same period last year.

   

In total, kharif crops are normally sown in around 110.44 million hectares during the full season, which means that till July 17, sowing was complete in around 60 per cent of the normal area.

 

The good news is that, with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasting a pick-up in rains, there could be a further pick-up in sowing.

 

The IMD said active monsoon conditions are likely over northwest and northeast India during the next four-five days, with isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places and extremely heavy rainfall over Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh on July 20 and 21, and over Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Assam and Meghalaya on July 20.

 

However, concerns still remain, as a long dry spell after initial sowing could lead to a drop in yields and loss of production, particularly in areas with inadequate irrigation facilities.

 

Meanwhile, the sowing data showed that the area under paddy, the main foodgrain grown during the kharif season, was just around 0.8 per cent lower than last year as of July 17, 2026. This should ensure a healthy paddy output this kharif, but greater concern remains over acreage under oilseeds and pulses.

 

The latest data showed that the area under pulses was around 15.1 per cent lower than last year as of July 17, 2026, while the area under coarse cereals was around 11.2 per cent lower than last year. Oilseeds acreage as of July 17, 2026, was around 14.70 million hectares, 5.6 per cent lower than the area covered during the same period last year, while cotton acreage was around 6 per cent lower than last year as of July 17, 2026.

 

Meanwhile, data also showed that overall water levels in the 166 reservoirs as of July 16, 2026, were lower than last year's level but higher than the 10-year average.  Kharif Sowing As on July 17, 2026 (in million hectares)