New Delhi: The total area sown under kharif crops in the current season has increased by 6.51 lakh hectares to 1,121.46 lakh hectares, as on October 3 this year, compared with the corresponding figure of 1114.95 lakh hectares in the same period last year, data released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare showed on Monday.
The area covered under coarse cereals or millets such as maize, jowar, bajra and ragi has shot up by 11.13 lakh hectares to 194.67 lakh hectares during the current season so far, compared to183.54 lakh hectares in the same period of the previous year. This has been largely due to a jump in the area under maize cultivation by 12 per cent to 94.95 hectares this year from 84.30 lakh hectares in the previous year.
The area under pulses has gone up to 120.4 lakh hectares from 119.04 lakh hectares during the same period last year. There has been a 6.5 per cent increase in the area sown under urad to 24.37 lakh hectares compared to the corresponding figure of 22.87 lakh hectares in the same period last year.
The increase in sown area is expected to lead to higher production which in turn would increase the incomes of farmers and also help to keep food inflation in check.
The official figures show that the area under rice is 441.58 lakh hectares this year, which has gone up by 5.91 lakh hectares from 435.68 lakh hectares during the same period last year.
The area under sugarcane has also increased to 59.07 lakh hectares which is 1.86 lakh hectares higher than the corresponding figure of 57.22 lakh hectares for the same period of the previous year.
The sown area has gone up in the current season as better monsoon rains have facilitated the sowing in unirrigated areas of the country which account for close to 50 per cent of the country’s farmland.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on May 28 this year, approved an increase in the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for 14 kharif crops for marketing season 2025-26 to ensure remunerative prices to the growers for their crops and incentivise production.
The highest absolute increase in MSP over the previous year has been recommended for nigerseed (Rs. 820 per quintal) followed by Ragi (Rs. 596 per quintal), Cotton (Rs. 589 per quintal) and Sesamum (Rs. 579 per quintal).
(IANS)
