Acreage Rises Sharply for Maize, Barley, Mustard

16-Dec-2025 08:10 PM

New Delhi. Although the total area under coarse grains and oilseeds has increased during the current Rabi season compared to last year, this increase is mainly attributed to specific crops.

In the coarse grains category, the area under maize cultivation increased by 11.5 percent from 14.00 lakh hectares last year to 15.60 lakh hectares this year, and the area under barley cultivation improved by about 5 percent from 6.47 lakh hectares to 6.78 lakh hectares.

Similarly, the area under ragi also increased from 48 thousand hectares to 66 thousand hectares, but the area under jowar decreased from 20 lakh hectares to 18.52 lakh hectares, and the area under bajra cultivation slipped from 11 thousand hectares to 9 thousand hectares. The area under barley has surpassed the five-year average area, while the area under maize is 8 lakh hectares behind the normal average area of ​​23.61 lakh hectares.

As far as oilseed crops are concerned, there have been fluctuations in their cultivation as well. The area under mustard, the most important oilseed crop, increased by 4 percent or 3.51 lakh hectares from 81.16 lakh hectares last year to 84.67 lakh hectares, which is also 5.50 lakh hectares more than the five-year average area of ​​79.17 lakh hectares.

However, the area under groundnut cultivation decreased from 2.57 lakh hectares to 2.12 lakh hectares, the area under linseed fell from 2.27 lakh hectares to 1.61 lakh hectares, and the area under sesame slipped from 7 thousand hectares to 5 thousand hectares.

On the other hand, the area under sunflower cultivation improved from 30 thousand hectares to 34 thousand hectares, and the area under safflower increased from 56 thousand hectares to 73 thousand hectares.

Sowing of Rabi crops has been completed in most areas, but the process will continue for the next few weeks in the remaining regions. This is expected to lead to an improvement in the area under cultivation for various crops.