Higher area under groundnut, bajra could not help summer acreage to continue the early lead over year-ago as both paddy and maize crops’ acreage is lower this time. It is to be seen if farmers shift to pulses, particularly to urad, as per the government plan, when all thrusts are on crop diversification.
The data of sowing under summer crops, which will end by May, has reached 26.53 lakh hectares (lh) as on February 27, which is 3 per cent less than 27.42 lh reported in the year-ago period. The zaid season sowing is progressing well, the government said, as reservoir levels are 12 per cent more now than year-ago. Zaid crop is grown before kharif sowing and after rabi harvest.
Summer crop areas, were earlier included under Kharif or Rabi season, but the government a few years back decided to start collating the data separately. The last five year’s average coverage under summer crops is 75.37 lakh hectares whereas the area reached an all time high of 83.92 lh in 2024-25. The share of summer crops was 19.11 million tonnes (mt) or 5.3 per cent in the total food grains production of 357.73 mt in 2024-25.
According to weekly update released by Agriculture Ministry, paddy sowing was down 7 per cent at 21.80 lh from 23.45 lh while nutri/coarse cereals areas up at 1.88lh against 1.68 lh year-ago. Among the nutri/coarse cereals, maize area is down at 1.33 lh from 1.36 lh, while bajra has reached at 0.31 lh against 0.21 lh, ragi at 0.17 lh and jowar at 0.06 lh until February 27.
Area under summer pulses reached 1.15 lh from 1.03 lh, in which coverage of greengram (moong) reached at 0.73 lh, and blackgram (urad) at 0.32 lh. The key growers of summer pulses are Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. Summer pulses are key to offset when there is a fall in Kharif crops. In 2025-26 Kharif pulses production has been estimated at 7.41 mt from 7.73 mt in 2024-25.
Madhya Pradesh, the main producer of summer moong, recently announced a bonus on the urad crop grown in summer. Announcing the bonus of ₹600 per quintal over and above the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 7,800/quintal for urad, the state government said that the step is aimed at encouraging farmers to shift from moong during the summer (zaid) season.
But despite tall promises, farmers of Madhya Pradesh complained about not receiving MSP for their urad in Kharif season. During the key Kharif harvesting season (October-December) of 2025-26, farmers in Madhya Pradesh on on an average had sold their urad at agriculture market yards (Mandis) 26 per cent below MSP at Rs 6,181/quintal, according to Agmarknet portal.
Oilseeds area in this summer season is also higher at 1.69 lh from 1.26 lh and it includes groundnut at 1.33 lh and sesamum at 0.26 lh.
Meanwhile, according to the Central Water Commission (CWC), storage dropped to 59 per cent or 108.338 billion cubic metres (BCM) of the 183.565 BCM capacity as of February 26. The CWC’s weekly bulletin on the storage in the major reservoirs said the level was 12 percentage points higher than last year and over 25 percentage points more than normal (last 10 years). The level in all five regions dropped below 70 per cent whereas only 3 reservoirs were brimming.
Published on March 3, 2026