Sharp Drop in Sowing Area of Food Category Oilseeds

19-Aug-2025 06:11 PM

New Delhi. The production area of all major food category oilseed crops produced in the Kharif season - soybean, groundnut, sesame, sunflower and nigerseed - is lagging behind last year.

Although the area of castor has gone up by 1.21 lakh hectares and its sowing is still going on in top producing states like Gujarat-Rajasthan, but it is mainly considered a non-edible or industrial category oilseed.

According to official data, the total production area of oilseed crops during the current Kharif season has reached 178.64 lakh hectares, which is 6.74 lakh hectares or 3.63 percent less than the sowing area of 185.38 lakh hectares during

the same period last year and about 16 lakh hectares less than the normal (five-year) average area of 194.63 lakh hectares. In comparison to last year, during the current Kharif season, soybean production area fell from 124.59 lakh hectares to 119.82 lakh hectares,

groundnut sowing area fell from 46.07 lakh hectares to 43.98 lakh hectares, sesame area fell from 10.12 lakh hectares to 9.22 lakh hectares and sunflower area slipped from 68 thousand hectares to 61 thousand hectares.

Niger seed area also fell from 27 thousand hectares to 16 thousand hectares, but castor sowing area increased from 3.58 lakh hectares to 4.79 lakh hectares.

In comparison to the normal average area, the sowing area of all oilseed crops is lagging far behind and as the sowing process has reached the last stage, there is no possibility of much improvement in its area in the future.

There is also a possibility of damage to oilseed crops due to heavy rains and floods in some areas. The coming season will prove to be decisive for the crop.