Area under summer crops increased by 7 percent to reach close to 79 lakh hectares
15-May-2025 12:28 PM
New Delhi. The latest data from the Union Agriculture Ministry shows that the area under summer or zaid crops during the current year has increased to 78.82 lakh hectares as of May 9, which is about 7 lakh hectares or 7 percent more than the 71.94 lakh hectares recorded during the same period last year.
Favorable weather conditions encouraged farmers to take up more sowing, resulting in increased acreage across almost all major crops.
Key producing states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh reported good irrigation water availability, which helped facilitate farming activities smoothly.
This expansion in the zaid cropping area is expected to contribute to record production levels of rice and maize in the 2024 marketing season. Notably, the sown area for most crops exceeded not only last year’s figures but also the average normal area.
For instance, the area under paddy increased to 32.02 lakh hectares, up from 28.57 lakh hectares last year and above the normal average of 30.80 lakh hectares.
The area under pulses rose by 1.50 percent to reach 22.70 lakh hectares, which is also 1.05 lakh hectares more than the normal average of 21.65 lakh hectares.
Within the pulses category, moong (green gram) area rose from 18.44 lakh hectares to 19.45 lakh hectares, while black gram area increased slightly by 0.5 percent. The area for other pulses remained stable at 18,000 hectares.
Coarse cereals (Shri Anna), including maize, also saw an expansion of 1.6 percent—from 12.95 lakh hectares last year to 14.59 lakh hectares this year.
Of this, maize acreage increased from 7.37 lakh hectares to 8.89 lakh hectares, while millet saw a marginal rise from 4.96 lakh hectares to 5.05 lakh hectares.
The area under oilseeds improved as well, rising from 9.23 lakh hectares to 9.51 lakh hectares. Groundnut sowing increased from 4.11 lakh hectares to 4.31 lakh hectares, sesame from 4.73 lakh hectares to 4.77 lakh hectares, and sunflower from 31,000 hectares to 36,000 hectares.