Paddy Acreage Rising in Most Key Producing States
13-Aug-2025 11:02 AM
New Delhi. Indian farmers' enthusiasm and attraction towards the cultivation of the most important food grain of the Kharif season - paddy remains intact, due to which its production area is increasing unexpectedly.
If this trend continues, then in the season 2025-26, the area of paddy can jump rapidly and reach an all-time high, which will also increase its yield well.
The interesting fact is that paddy is the only agricultural product which is cultivated in all the states of the country. It includes areas from Kerala to Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh to Gujarat.
Data from the Union Agriculture Ministry shows that during the current Kharif season, the total production area of paddy at the national level jumped to 364.80 lakh hectares by 8 August 2025, which is 12.1 percent or 39.44 lakh hectares more than the area of 325.36 lakh hectares in the same period of the year 2024.
This time the five-year (normal) average area of paddy has been estimated to be 403.09 lakh hectares, whereas the actual area has reached close to 365 lakh hectares.
In the eastern and southern provinces of the country, paddy transplantation continues till late. In states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bengal, Bihar, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, paddy transplantation is likely to continue till at least the end of August, due to which its total production area is expected to surpass the normal average area and reach a new record level.
In Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat as well as Karnataka, the paddy cultivation campaign has either ended or has reached the final stage.
Due to good rains of the southwest monsoon in various states and the minimum support price (MSP) being at an attractive level, the activity of farmers in paddy cultivation has increased considerably this time.
The minimum support price of paddy has been increased by Rs 69 per quintal, due to which the MSP of general category paddy has increased from Rs 2300 to Rs 2369 per quintal and the MSP of 'A' grade paddy has increased from Rs 2320 to Rs 2389 per quintal.
The government's difficulty will increase if the production of paddy and rice increases because it already has a huge stock of rice.