The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare released the progress of area coverage under Kharif crops as on June 19, 2026, showing total sown area of 119.90 lakh hectares, representing a 1.95 lakh hectare increase compared to the same period in 2025 (117.95 lakh hectares).
Rice cultivation shows the strongest performance with 12.36 lakh hectares sown, significantly higher than the 8.09 lakh hectares at the same time last year, representing a 4.26 lakh hectare increase. The normal area for rice is 412.00 lakh hectares with final area coverage of 446.70 lakh hectares in 2025.
Pulses overall show positive growth with 7.21 lakh hectares sown compared to 6.39 lakh hectares in 2025, an increase of 0.83 lakh hectares. Within pulses, moongbean leads with 4.08 lakh hectares (up 1.21 lakh hectares from 2.86 lakh hectares), while urdbean shows a decline of 0.36 lakh hectares to 0.62 lakh hectares. Arhar remains stable with minimal increase of 0.02 lakh hectares to 1.61 lakh hectares.
Coarse cereals demonstrate strong growth with 12.43 lakh hectares sown, up 2.61 lakh hectares from 9.82 lakh hectares in 2025. Bajra shows the most significant increase within this category with 4.05 lakh hectares (up 1.91 lakh hectares from 2.14 lakh hectares), followed by jowar at 1.74 lakh hectares (up 0.34 lakh hectares) and maize at 5.69 lakh hectares (up 0.35 lakh hectares).
Oilseeds overall show a decline of 0.87 lakh hectares to 7.24 lakh hectares compared to 8.11 lakh hectares in 2025. Groundnut shows modest growth to 5.25 lakh hectares (up 0.16 lakh hectares), while soybean shows a significant reduction of 1.20 lakh hectares to only 1.30 lakh hectares sown. Sunflower shows improvement with 0.49 lakh hectares (up 0.21 lakh hectares).
Sugarcane area remains largely stable at 57.31 lakh hectares, showing a marginal increase of 0.67 lakh hectares over 56.64 lakh hectares in 2025. Jute & Mesta show slight improvement to 6.22 lakh hectares (up 0.14 lakh hectares).
Cotton shows the most significant decline among major crops, with only 17.13 lakh hectares sown compared to 22.82 lakh hectares in 2025, representing a reduction of 5.69 lakh hectares. The normal area for cotton is 125.51 lakh hectares with final area coverage of 115.20 lakh hectares in 2025.