India’s Kharif Sowing Reaches 1,016.57 Lakh Hectares, Rice Acreage Trails Last Year

India’s total area under kharif crops reached 1,016.57 lakh hectares as of August 14, 2026, compared with 1,037.52 lakh hectares during the corresponding period last year. This represents a year-on-year decline of 20.95 lakh hectares, according to the latest sowing data released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

The overall decline has been driven mainly by lower rice acreage, along with smaller reductions in coarse cereals, cotton and oilseeds. Pulses remained broadly stable compared with last year, while jute and mesta recorded a modest increase. The figures provide an important mid-season indication of planting patterns across major agricultural states, although acreage can continue to change as sowing progresses.

Rice Acreage Falls by 14.37 Lakh Hectares

Rice accounted for the largest part of the decline in kharif sowing. Farmers had planted rice across 379.07 lakh hectares by August 14, down from 393.44 lakh hectares during the same period of 2025. The difference amounts to 14.37 lakh hectares.

Several major rice-producing states reported lower coverage. Karnataka recorded a decline of 2.86 lakh hectares, while Jharkhand was lower by 2.26 lakh hectares and Maharashtra by 2.25 lakh hectares. Odisha reported a reduction of 2.09 lakh hectares, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 1.64 lakh hectares and Telangana at 1.49 lakh hectares.

Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar also reported lower rice acreage. Assam, however, recorded a sizeable increase of 3.93 lakh hectares, while Uttarakhand also reported higher coverage.

The current rice acreage remains below the five-year normal area of 412 lakh hectares, while final rice coverage during 2025 stood at 446.70 lakh hectares. The present figures, however, represent sowing progress only up to August 14 and should not be directly treated as final-season acreage.

Pulses Remain Broadly Stable

Kharif pulse sowing stood at 108.14 lakh hectares, marginally below the 108.49 lakh hectares recorded during the corresponding period last year. The year-on-year difference was only 0.35 lakh hectares, making pulses one of the more stable major crop categories this season.

Within pulses, urdbean acreage increased to 23.52 lakh hectares from 20.79 lakh hectares last year, an improvement of 2.73 lakh hectares. Mothbean and kulthi also recorded small gains.

Arhar acreage declined to 40.31 lakh hectares from 42.01 lakh hectares, while moongbean fell to 32.05 lakh hectares from 33.42 lakh hectares. Other pulses also showed a modest reduction.

Karnataka and Maharashtra recorded some of the largest state-level declines in pulse acreage, at 4.16 lakh hectares and 2.70 lakh hectares respectively. These reductions were partly offset by Uttar Pradesh, where pulse coverage increased by 4.25 lakh hectares. Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh also reported higher sowing.

Shree Anna and Coarse Cereals Acreage Declines

The combined area under Shree Anna and coarse cereals reached 172.96 lakh hectares, compared with 177.13 lakh hectares during the same period last year. This represents a reduction of 4.17 lakh hectares.

Maize accounted for much of the decline. Its acreage stood at 88.39 lakh hectares, down from 92.06 lakh hectares last year. Ragi acreage also fell to 3.46 lakh hectares from 5.26 lakh hectares.

In contrast, both jowar and bajra recorded increases of about 0.69 lakh hectares each. Jowar sowing reached 13.30 lakh hectares, while bajra covered 63.98 lakh hectares.

Karnataka reported the largest state-level reduction in Shree Anna and coarse cereal acreage at 7 lakh hectares, followed by Maharashtra with a decline of 2.46 lakh hectares. Higher coverage was reported in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand.

Oilseed Sowing Nearly Matches Last Year

Oilseed coverage remained close to last year’s level, reaching 184.46 lakh hectares against 185.36 lakh hectares during the corresponding period of 2025. The overall decline was limited to 0.89 lakh hectares.

Soybean, India’s largest kharif oilseed by area, covered 120.84 lakh hectares, compared with 122.61 lakh hectares last year. This represented a reduction of 1.76 lakh hectares.

Groundnut performed better, with acreage rising to 48.03 lakh hectares from 47.01 lakh hectares. Sesamum also increased significantly to 10.35 lakh hectares from 8.73 lakh hectares, while sunflower acreage increased to 1.06 lakh hectares from 0.61 lakh hectares.

Castor acreage showed a notable decline, falling to 3.83 lakh hectares from 6.19 lakh hectares last year.

At the state level, Rajasthan reported a 3.40 lakh hectare reduction in oilseed acreage. Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Odisha also recorded declines. Uttar Pradesh offset part of this weakness with an increase of 3.89 lakh hectares, while Madhya Pradesh added 0.68 lakh hectares.

Sugarcane Acreage Marginally Lower

Sugarcane cultivation stood at 58.31 lakh hectares, compared with 58.62 lakh hectares during the corresponding period last year. The difference of 0.31 lakh hectares indicates that overall sugarcane acreage has remained relatively stable.

Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh reported reductions in sugarcane coverage. Uttar Pradesh, the country’s largest sugarcane-growing state, recorded an increase of 0.36 lakh hectares, while Haryana added another 0.11 lakh hectares.

Cotton Sowing Slips Below Last Year

Cotton acreage reached 107.30 lakh hectares, compared with 108.26 lakh hectares during the same period last year. This represents a decline of 0.96 lakh hectares.

Rajasthan recorded the largest reduction at 1.09 lakh hectares, followed by Haryana at 0.90 lakh hectares and Punjab at 0.43 lakh hectares. Maharashtra and Karnataka also reported lower cotton sowing.

The decline was partly offset by Telangana, where cotton acreage increased by 1.25 lakh hectares. Gujarat added 0.64 lakh hectares, while Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh also reported smaller increases.

Jute and Mesta Record an Increase

Jute and mesta were among the few major crop groups to record higher acreage. Their combined area increased to 6.34 lakh hectares from 6.23 lakh hectares last year.

The 0.11 lakh hectare increase was driven mainly by Bihar, according to the Agriculture Ministry’s data. Final jute and mesta acreage during 2025 stood at 6.06 lakh hectares.

Kharif Acreage Shows Mixed State-Level Picture

The latest figures indicate that the 2026 kharif season has produced significant differences across both crops and states. While total sowing remains below the corresponding 2025 level, the gap is concentrated heavily in rice and coarse cereals rather than being uniform across the agricultural sector.

Pulses and oilseeds remain close to last year’s acreage, while groundnut, sesamum, urdbean, jowar and bajra have recorded higher coverage. Rice remains the crop to watch because its 14.37 lakh hectare decline accounts for a major share of the overall 20.95 lakh hectare reduction in kharif acreage.

The acreage figures are provisional and represent the progress of sowing reported up to August 14, 2026. Further planting and revisions in state data could change the final crop-wise area when the kharif sowing season is completed.

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Official Source: Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India — Progress of area coverage under Kharif crops as on 14.08.2026, released August 17, 2026.

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