Bengaluru: Farmers in Karnataka are showing a growing preference for crops like maize and soyabean in the ongoing kharif 2025 season, according to early sowing data from the State Agriculture Department, reported The Hindu BusinessLine.
As of June 13, sowing has been completed on about 20.42 lakh hectares, nearly 25 percent of the season’s total target of 82.50 lakh hectares. This marks a slight increase compared to the same period last year, when 20.22 lakh hectares had been sown.
Maize is leading the way, with sowing completed on 6.37 lakh hectares—around 12 percent higher than last year’s 5.68 lakh hectares. The State aims to cover 15.50 lakh hectares with maize this season. Karnataka is one of the country’s major producers of maize during the kharif season.
However, other cereal crops such as paddy, bajra, and millets are lagging behind last year’s sowing figures. Jowar has seen a small increase. The total area under cereals has grown to 7.43 lakh hectares, up from 6.84 lakh hectares at the same time last year.
In the pulses category, the sown area stands at 4.61 lakh hectares, slightly behind last year’s 4.91 lakh hectares. Green gram (moong) has seen a modest rise in area to 2.54 lakh hectares from 2.47 lakh hectares last year. Pigeon pea (tur), however, has dropped to 1.12 lakh hectares from 1.65 lakh hectares.
Among oilseeds, soyabean sowing has increased to 1.24 lakh hectares from 1.01 lakh hectares last year. Sunflower has also seen a small rise to 0.27 lakh hectares, although this is still below last year’s area of 0.36 lakh hectares.
In the cash crop segment, cotton acreage has declined slightly to 1.44 lakh hectares from 1.59 lakh hectares. Sugarcane planting has also dipped slightly to 4.20 lakh hectares from 4.22 lakh hectares. Tobacco is the exception, with a marginal increase to 0.72 lakh hectares from last year’s 0.71 lakh hectares.
