New Delhi, June 23 (IANS) The area under the ongoing kharif crop sowing has increased to 137.84 lakh hectares so far this year compared to 124.88 lakh hectares in the same period last year, data released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on Monday showed.

The increase of 12.97 lakh hectares in sown area in the early part of the season augurs well for higher production which in turn would increase the incomes of farmers and also help to keep food inflation in check.

The official figures show that the area under rice, the sowing of which has just got underway, is 13.22 lakh hectares as on June 20 this year as compared to 8.37 lakh hectares during the same period last year.

The area under pulses such as Urd and Moog has been reported at 9.4 4 lakh hectares as compared to 6.63 lakh hectares during the same period last year.

This increase of 2.8 lakh hectares in the early part of the season is a good beginning as an increase in the production of pulses plays a key role in controlling inflation.

The area sown under cotton has increased by 2.12 lakh hectares to 31.25 lakh hectares so far compared to the corresponding figure of 29.12 lakh hectares for the previous year.

The rise in the area under cotton will benefit the labour-intensive textiles sector of the country.

The area covered under coarse cereals or millets such as jowar, bajra and ragi has shot up to 18.33 lakh hectares during the current season so far, from 14.77 lakh hectares in the same period of the previous year.

The sown area has gone up in the current season as better monsoon rains have facilitated the sowing in unirrigated areas of the country which account for close to 50 per cent of the country’s farmland.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on May 28 this year, approved an increase in the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for 14 kharif crops for marketing season 2025-26 to ensure remunerative prices to the growers for their crops and incentivise production.

The highest absolute increase in MSP over the previous year has been recommended for nigerseed (Rs.820 per quintal) followed by Ragi (Rs 596 per quintal), Cotton (Rs 589 per quintal) and Sesamum (Rs 579 per quintal).

–IANS

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