Pune: Maharashtra has completed 95.1% of its targeted kharif sowing area this season, but acreage under key crops like maize and pulses has declined sharply from last year, state agriculture department data showed.Kharif crops have been sown across 1.36 crore hectares so far against the state’s target of around 1.43 crore hectares. The coverage, however, remains lower than the 1.42 crore hectares recorded during the corresponding period last year. Cotton, Maharashtra’s principal cash crop, has maintained a largely stable footprint, covering 38.37 lakh hectares compared with 38.40 lakh hectares a year ago. Even so, the current area is nearly 10% below the crop’s average acreage over the past five years.Soybean, another major kharif crop, also registered a marginal decline. The crop has been sown on 49.28 lakh hectares this season, down from 49.62 lakh hectares last year, a reduction of about 34,000 hectares. The steepest decline has been recorded in maize cultivation. Acreage under the crop has dropped to 12.17 lakh hectares from nearly 14.50 lakh hectares last season, a fall of more than 2.3 lakh hectares.Sowing of pulses has also weakened significantly. Total pulses acreage stands at 16.11 lakh hectares, compared with 18.73 lakh hectares during the same period last year. Among individual crops, green gram (moong) has covered only about 49% of its normal acreage, while black gram (urad) has reached around 55% of its usual area.The data indicates that farmers have largely completed kharif sowing despite uneven rainfall and weather fluctuations. However, the shift away from maize and pulses could impact both crop availability and farm incomes later in the season.Cereals account for around 31.17 lakh hectares of the state’s kharif acreage, while oilseeds dominate with nearly 50.20 lakh hectares under cultivation.A senior agriculture department official attributed the decline in pulse acreage to poor rainfall during June and the increasingly delayed onset of the monsoon. “Inadequate rainfall in June severely affected pulse sowing, leading to a significant reduction in area this season. This has become a recurring trend over the past few years due to the delayed arrival of the monsoon,” the official said.The official said maize acreage had fallen for the first time in five years. “Maize had emerged as a major cash crop and its area had been steadily expanding. However, farmers have not received the expected prices over the past few seasons, prompting many to shift away from the crop this year,” the official added.
