Increase in Rabi Pulses Sowing Area Solely Due to Chickpea Cultivation

23-Dec-2025 05:07 PM

New Delhi: The latest weekly report from the Union Ministry of Agriculture reveals that the total area under pulse crops in the current Rabi season, as of December 19, 2025, has increased to 126.74 lakh hectares, which is 3.72 lakh hectares more than the 123.02 lakh hectares sown during the same period last year.

This increase is solely attributed to chickpeas, while the area under other pulse crops is lagging behind last year's figures. The normal average area for Rabi pulse crops this year has been set at 140.42 lakh hectares.

It is noteworthy that during the entire 2024-25 Rabi season, a total of 134.08 lakh hectares were cultivated with pulses, including 91.22 lakh hectares for chickpeas, 17 lakh hectares for lentils, 6.18 lakh hectares for black gram,

and 1.36 lakh hectares for green gram. In addition, some other pulses, including peas, horse gram, and khesari, are also sown during the Rabi season, but the government does not fix a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for them.

According to official figures, compared to last year, the area under chickpea cultivation in the current Rabi season increased from 86.81 lakh hectares to 91.70 lakh hectares, but the area under lentils decreased from 15.83 lakh hectares to 15.76 lakh hectares, peas from 8.27 lakh hectares to 7.92 lakh hectares,

horse gram from 1.99 lakh hectares to 1.73 lakh hectares, and khesari from 2.77 lakh hectares to 2.70 lakh hectares.

Furthermore, the area under black gram decreased from 3.48 lakh hectares last year to 3.13 lakh hectares, and the area under green gram decreased from 43,000 hectares to 42,000 hectares.

It is worth noting that black gram and green gram are cultivated in all three seasons: Kharif, Rabi, and Zaid. This year, the area under cultivation for other Rabi pulses has also decreased from 3.44 lakh hectares last year to 3.37 lakh hectares. Sowing of pulses is still underway.