Kharif sowing across India has fallen sharply this year, with the total area under cultivation standing at 18.272 million hectares (mha) as of June 25 — a drop of nearly 23 per cent, or 5.374 mha, from 23.646 mha in the same period last year.
According to figures released by the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, the shortfall spans nearly every major crop category, with rice, cotton, oilseeds and pulses all trailing last year’s pace, as a delayed and sluggish southwest monsoon across key farming states has left sowing operations stalled.
The sharp drop in sowing mirrors the scale of this year’s June monsoon deficit. The month of June saw a huge deficit of 40 per cent, according to India Meteorological Department (IMD) data.
The dry spell comes as El Niño conditions strengthen over the equatorial Pacific, a pattern typically associated with weaker monsoon rainfall over India, raising the risk that July offers little relief for farmers.
During an El Niño event, the surface waters in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean become significantly warmer than usual and that interacts with trade winds which weaken and disrupt global weather patterns, triggering extreme climate events like droughts. Scientists have warned that this year’s El Niño is on track to be among the stronger ever recorded, often been referred to as a ‘super’ El Niño event.
Rice, one of the major kharif crops, has seen its sown area shrink by 0.865 mha compared to last year, falling to 2.575 mha. Pulses have followed a similar trajectory, with area dropping from 2.146 mha a year ago to 1.492 mha this time. The steepest decline, however, has come in oilseeds, where area has more than halved — from 3.641 mha in 2025 to just 1.699 mha this year, a drop of 1.942 mha.
India’s agriculture remains deeply tied to the southwest monsoon and its kharif planting season which coincides exactly with the monsoon, accounts for roughly half of India’s annual food grain production. About 55-60 per cent of India’s net sown area is rainfed, that is, it is majorly dependent on rainfall, with not much irrigation backup.
Large parts of India are already in drought. According to the National Drought Monitor, maintained by IIT Gandhinagar, 41.2 per cent of India’s total area was under drought or near-drought conditions as of July 1. This figure was 37.1 per cent in the week before, and 19.6 per cent a month ago. This means drier conditions are expanding rapidly.
The western part of India, including major agricultural states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, parts of Karnataka are the worst affected, with 71 per cent of its area in drought. Central India is not far behind at 53 per cent, and the northeast at 62 per cent. The north stands at 46 per cent.
The Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has flagged 111 districts across the country as high-risk and high priority. These are districts where two vulnerabilities compound each other — a weak monsoon already projected by IMD, and irrigation coverage below 25 per cent, meaning farmers have little to fall back on if the rain does not come.
A majority of these districts are located across 12 states: Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Bihar, Jharkhand, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.