Coarse Cereal Acreage Approaches Last Year's Levels

New Delhi: Despite a significant drop of approximately 2.50 lakh hectares in the area sown with maize, the total cultivation area for Kharif coarse cereals has improved to 183.17 lakh hectares this year—an increase of 69,000 hectares over last year's 182.48 lakh hectares. This growth is primarily driven by an expansion in the acreage of *Jowar* (sorghum) by 1.10 lakh hectares and *Bajra* (pearl millet) by 2.01 lakh hectares.

According to the latest weekly data from the Union Ministry of Agriculture, the national acreage for *Jowar* rose from 12.61 lakh hectares to 13.71 lakh hectares, and the area sown with *Bajra* jumped from 62.89 lakh hectares to 64.88 lakh hectares compared to the previous Kharif season.

Conversely, the area under maize cultivation fell from 94.08 lakh hectares to 91.59 lakh hectares, and the acreage for *Ragi* (finger millet) declined slightly from 8.77 lakh hectares to 8.67 lakh hectares (though *Ragi* sowing had initially lagged significantly). The area for other coarse cereals (small millets) improved from 4.15 lakh hectares to 4.31 lakh hectares. Sowing operations for coarse cereals have largely concluded.

A decline in the maize sowing area had been anticipated, as neither the market price nor the Minimum Support Price (MSP) announced by the central government was particularly attractive to farmers. Although market prices remained below the MSP, farmers still showed considerable interest in cultivating the crop.