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The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare released the All India Progressive Crop Area Sown Report for kharif 2026-27 as on 21 August 2026.
Total kharif area sown stood at 1,056.70 lakh hectares against 1,072.77 lakh hectares at the same point in 2025-26 — a fall of 16.07 lakh hectares — and against a normal area of 1,104.45 lakh hectares.
Rice accounts for most of the shortfall: 405.10 lakh hectares against 418.29 lakh hectares a year earlier, a decline of 13.19 lakh hectares, concentrated in Karnataka, Telangana, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Maharashtra.
Pulses rose 1.49 lakh hectares to 113.63 lakh hectares, with urad up 2.65 lakh hectares, while Shree Anna and coarse cereals fell 3.45 lakh hectares and oilseeds were almost flat at a fall of 0.32 lakh hectares.
Sugarcane, groundnut and maize were all sown above their normal area even where they trailed last year, while cotton at 108.45 lakh hectares remained far below its normal of 125.51 lakh hectares.
| Crop group | Normal area | Sown 2026-27 | Sown 2025-26 | Change over last year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rice | 412.00 | 405.10 | 418.29 | -13.19 |
| Total pulses | 123.64 | 113.63 | 112.14 | +1.49 |
| Shree Anna and coarse cereals | 182.63 | 176.36 | 179.81 | -3.45 |
| Total oilseeds | 200.08 | 188.37 | 188.69 | -0.32 |
| Sugarcane | 54.20 | 58.44 | 58.87 | -0.43 |
| Jute and mesta | 6.39 | 6.34 | 6.23 | +0.10 |
| Cotton | 125.51 | 108.45 | 108.73 | -0.28 |
| Grand total | 1,104.45 | 1,056.70 | 1,072.77 | -16.07 |
A progressive sowing report carries two comparisons and they answer different questions. The comparison with the same week last year measures momentum — whether the monsoon's arrival and distribution have pushed farmers ahead of or behind last season. The comparison with NORMAL AREA, a benchmark maintained by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare from past coverage, measures whether the crop is where it structurally ought to be. The two can point in opposite directions, and this report contains examples of exactly that: maize at 89.51 lakh hectares is well ABOVE its normal of 80.77 but well BELOW last year's 93.30, so a headline saying maize is down and a headline saying maize is above normal are both true. Cotton is the mirror case: nearly flat against last year, but 17 lakh hectares below normal, which is the more important fact. Area is also not output — yield and rainfall in the grain-filling stage decide the harvest, so a sowing report forecasts nothing on its own.
Simple Analogy: Last year's figure tells you whether you are ahead of where you were at this time last year; the normal tells you whether you are ahead of where you usually are. A runner can be faster than last week and still slower than their usual pace.
Compiles and publishes the weekly progressive crop area sown report and maintains the 'normal area' benchmark against which coverage is assessed. It sits in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
The department's statistical wing, which runs the Comprehensive Scheme for the Study of Cost of Cultivation of Principal Crops and supplies the state-wise, crop-specific cost estimates on which MSP recommendations rest.
Recommends Minimum Support Prices for 22 crops to the government. An attached office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, established in 1965 as the Agricultural Prices Commission and given its present name in 1985. Its recommendations are advisory; the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs takes the decision.
Issues the southwest monsoon forecasts and rainfall distribution data against which sowing progress is read; the monsoon's timing and spatial spread are the immediate drivers of week-to-week acreage change.
Pulses and vegetables drive the volatile component of consumer price inflation, so a rise in pulses acreage is read by the RBI as an early supply-side signal.
The report's use of 'Shree Anna' for the millet group follows the government's rebranding of millets; ragi's continued decline sits awkwardly with the promotion effort.
India imports a large share of its edible oil, so soybean, groundnut and mustard acreage feeds directly into the import bill and into the National Mission on Edible Oils.
Acreage shifts respond in part to expected prices, which the MSP announcement signals before sowing; the CACP recommends and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs decides.
GS Paper 3 > Indian Economy > Agriculture, Cropping Patterns, MSP
General Awareness > Indian Agriculture
The Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of sugarcane is approved by the
Answer: Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs
With reference to 'Initiative for Nutritional Security through Intensive Millets Promotion', which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. This initiative aims to demonstrate the improved production and post-harvest technologies, and to demonstrate value addition techniques, in an integrated manner, with cluster approach. 2. Poor, small, marginal and tribal farmers have larger stake in this scheme. 3. An important objective of the scheme is to encourage farmers of commercial crops to shift to millet cultivation by offering them free kits of critical inputs of nutrients and microirrigation equipment. Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer: 1 and 2 only
Among the agricultural commodities imported by India, which one of the following accounts for the highest imports in terms of value in the last five years?
Answer: Vegetable oils
"The crop is subtropical in nature. A hard frost is injurious to it. It requires at least 210 frost-free days and 50 to 100 centimeters of rainfall for its growth. A light well-drained soil capable of retaining moisture is ideally suited for the cultivation of the crop." Which one of the following is that crop?
Answer: Cotton
With reference to the current trends in the cultivation of sugarcane in India, consider the following statements: 1. A substantial saving in seed material is made when 'bud chip settlings' are raised in a nursery and transplanted in the main field. 2. When direct planting of setts is done, the germination percentage is better with single-budded setts as compared to setts with many buds. 3. If bad weather conditions prevail when setts are directly planted, single-budded setts have better survival as compared to large setts. 4. Sugarcane can be cultivated using settlings prepared from tissue culture. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer: 1 and 4 only
High — cropping seasons, MSP and CACP are perennial; sowing data itself is the current-affairs hook.
The monsoon cropping season — sown from June with the southwest monsoon, harvested September to October. Rice, maize, bajra, jowar, tur, urad, moong, groundnut, soybean, cotton and jute are kharif crops.
The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare's benchmark coverage for a crop, against which each week's sown area is compared alongside the previous year's figure.
The government's designation for millets, used in official crop statistics for the group that includes jowar, bajra, ragi and small millets.
Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices — established 1965 as the Agricultural Prices Commission, renamed 1985; recommends MSP for 22 crops as an attached office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
Horse gram, a minor kharif pulse; its coverage of 0.23 lakh hectares against a normal of 1.48 lakh hectares is the sharpest proportional shortfall in the pulses group.