Area Foodgrains
Don't be surprised if you come across a mix of standard and traditional units for agricultural area measurement, including acres, hectares, square feet, and square meters, which are used in official contexts, and traditional units like Bigha (not a fixed value and varies significantly by state and even locally, range of 14,400 sq ft - 27,225 sq ft), Katha (again not a fixed value, can vary from as low as 1 katha = 600 sq ft to a high of 2,880 sq feet, with often cited value being 1,361 sq ft) and Guntha (1,089 sq ft or 101.17 square meters)
Refer our Conversion Factors section for detailed conversions. Some quick recap: 1 sq km is 100 hectares (or 1 hectare is 10,000 sq metre), and 1 hectare is 2.47 acres
Table below captures area under various foodgrains, presented in terms of lakh hectares (Source: RBI Handbook of Statistics)
For 2024-25, area under cultivation for Cereals was 1,096.7 lakh hectares (109.7 million hectares), comprising 514.2 lakh hectares for Rice, 327.6 lakh hectares for Wheat, and 254.9 lakh hectares for Coarse Cereals
Combined with 276.2 lakh hectares for Pulses, total area under cultivation for foodgrains for the year was 1,372.9 lakh hectares (137.3 million hectares or ~ 339 million acres
| Year | Rice Lakh Hectares | Wheat Lakh Hectares | Coarse Cereals Lakh Hectares | Total Cereals Lakh Hectares | Pulses Lakh Hectares | Total Foodgrains Lakh Hectares |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 514.2 | 327.6 | 254.9 | 1096.7 | 276.2 | 1372.9 |
| 2023-24 | 478.3 | 318.3 | 249.4 | 1046.0 | 275.1 | 1321.0 |
| 2022-23 | 478.3 | 314.0 | 240.7 | 1033.0 | 289.0 | 1322.0 |
| 2021-22 | 462.8 | 304.6 | 227.0 | 994.4 | 307.3 | 1301.7 |
| 2020-21 | 457.7 | 311.3 | 241.2 | 1010.1 | 287.8 | 1298.0 |
| 2019-20 | 437.0 | 314.0 | 240.2 | 990.0 | 280.0 | 1270.0 |
| 2018-19 | 441.6 | 293.2 | 221.5 | 956.2 | 291.6 | 1247.8 |
| 2017-18 | 437.9 | 297.0 | 243.0 | 978.0 | 298.0 | 1275.0 |
| 2016-17 | 439.9 | 307.9 | 250.1 | 997.9 | 294.0 | 1292.3 |
| 2015-16 | 434.9 | 304.1 | 243.9 | 982.9 | 249.1 | 1232.1 |
| 2014-15 | 438.6 | 309.7 | 241.5 | 989.8 | 231.0 | 1220.0 |
| 2013-14 | 439.5 | 311.9 | 256.7 | 1008.1 | 252.3 | 1260.4 |
| 2012-13 | 427.5 | 300.0 | 247.6 | 975.1 | 232.6 | 1207.0 |
| 2011-12 | 440.1 | 298.6 | 264.2 | 1002.9 | 244.6 | 1247.5 |
| 2010-11 | 428.6 | 290.7 | 283.4 | 1002.7 | 264.0 | 1266.7 |
| 2009-10 | 419.2 | 284.6 | 276.8 | 980.6 | 232.8 | 1213.3 |
| 2008-09 | 455.4 | 277.5 | 274.5 | 1007.4 | 220.9 | 1228.3 |
| 2007-08 | 439.1 | 280.4 | 284.8 | 1004.3 | 236.3 | 1240.6 |
| 2006-07 | 438.1 | 279.9 | 287.1 | 1005.1 | 231.9 | 1237.0 |
| 2005-06 | 436.6 | 264.8 | 290.6 | 992.0 | 223.9 | 1216.0 |
| 2004-05 | 419.1 | 263.8 | 290.3 | 973.2 | 227.6 | 1200.8 |
| 2003-04 | 425.9 | 266.0 | 308.0 | 999.9 | 234.6 | 1234.5 |
| 2002-03 | 411.8 | 252.0 | 269.9 | 933.7 | 205.0 | 1138.7 |
| 2001-02 | 449.0 | 263.4 | 295.2 | 1007.6 | 220.1 | 1227.7 |
| 2000-01 | 447.1 | 257.3 | 302.6 | 1007.0 | 203.5 | 1210.5 |
| 1999-00 | 451.6 | 274.9 | 293.4 | 1019.9 | 211.2 | 1231.1 |
| 1998-99 | 448.0 | 275.2 | 293.4 | 1016.6 | 235.0 | 1251.6 |
| 1997-98 | 434.5 | 267.0 | 308.3 | 1009.8 | 228.7 | 1238.5 |
| 1996-97 | 434.3 | 258.9 | 318.1 | 1011.3 | 224.5 | 1235.8 |
| 1995-96 | 428.4 | 250.1 | 308.8 | 987.3 | 222.8 | 1210.1 |
| 1994-95 | 428.1 | 257.0 | 321.7 | 1006.8 | 230.3 | 1237.1 |
| 1993-94 | 425.4 | 251.5 | 328.2 | 1005.1 | 222.5 | 1227.6 |
| 1992-93 | 417.8 | 245.9 | 344.2 | 1007.9 | 223.6 | 1231.5 |
| 1991-92 | 426.5 | 232.6 | 334.2 | 993.3 | 225.4 | 1218.7 |
| 1990-91 | 426.9 | 241.7 | 363.2 | 1031.8 | 246.6 | 1278.4 |
| 1989-90 | 421.7 | 235.0 | 376.9 | 1033.6 | 234.1 | 1267.7 |
| 1988-89 | 417.3 | 241.1 | 386.8 | 1045.2 | 231.5 | 1276.7 |
| 1987-88 | 388.1 | 230.6 | 365.5 | 984.2 | 212.7 | 1196.9 |
| 1986-87 | 411.7 | 231.3 | 397.4 | 1040.4 | 231.6 | 1272.0 |
| 1985-86 | 411.4 | 230.0 | 394.7 | 1036.1 | 244.2 | 1280.3 |
| 1984-85 | 411.6 | 235.6 | 392.1 | 1039.3 | 227.4 | 1266.7 |
| 1983-84 | 412.4 | 246.7 | 417.1 | 1076.2 | 235.4 | 1311.6 |
| 1982-83 | 382.6 | 235.7 | 404.3 | 1022.6 | 228.3 | 1250.9 |
| 1981-82 | 407.1 | 221.4 | 424.5 | 1053.0 | 238.4 | 1291.4 |
| 1980-81 | 401.5 | 222.8 | 417.8 | 1042.1 | 224.6 | 1266.7 |
| 1979-80 | 394.2 | 221.7 | 413.6 | 1029.5 | 222.6 | 1252.1 |
| 1978-79 | 404.8 | 226.4 | 422.3 | 1053.5 | 236.6 | 1290.1 |
| 1977-78 | 402.8 | 214.6 | 422.8 | 1040.2 | 235.0 | 1275.2 |
| 1976-77 | 385.1 | 209.2 | 419.4 | 1013.7 | 229.8 | 1243.5 |
| 1975-76 | 394.8 | 204.5 | 438.0 | 1037.3 | 244.5 | 1281.8 |
| 1974-75 | 378.9 | 180.1 | 431.5 | 990.5 | 220.3 | 1210.8 |
| 1973-74 | 382.9 | 185.8 | 462.4 | 1031.1 | 234.3 | 1265.4 |
| 1972-73 | 366.9 | 194.6 | 422.1 | 983.6 | 209.2 | 1192.8 |
| 1971-72 | 377.6 | 191.4 | 435.7 | 1004.7 | 221.5 | 1226.2 |
| 1970-71 | 375.9 | 182.4 | 459.5 | 1017.8 | 225.4 | 1243.2 |
| 1969-70 | 376.8 | 166.3 | 472.4 | 1015.5 | 220.2 | 1235.7 |
| 1968-69 | 369.7 | 159.6 | 462.4 | 991.7 | 212.6 | 1204.3 |
| 1967-68 | 364.4 | 149.9 | 473.4 | 987.7 | 226.5 | 1214.2 |
| 1966-67 | 352.5 | 128.4 | 450.9 | 931.8 | 221.2 | 1153.0 |
| 1965-66 | 354.7 | 125.7 | 443.4 | 923.8 | 227.2 | 1151.0 |
| 1964-65 | 364.6 | 134.2 | 443.5 | 942.3 | 238.8 | 1181.1 |
| 1963-64 | 358.1 | 135.0 | 439.3 | 932.4 | 241.8 | 1174.2 |
| 1962-63 | 356.9 | 135.9 | 442.9 | 935.7 | 242.7 | 1178.4 |
| 1961-62 | 346.9 | 135.7 | 447.3 | 929.9 | 242.4 | 1172.3 |
| 1960-61 | 341.3 | 129.3 | 449.6 | 920.2 | 235.6 | 1155.8 |
| 1959-60 | 338.2 | 133.8 | 437.9 | 909.9 | 248.3 | 1158.2 |
| 1958-59 | 331.7 | 126.2 | 446.6 | 904.5 | 243.1 | 1147.6 |
| 1957-58 | 323.0 | 117.3 | 429.1 | 869.4 | 225.4 | 1094.8 |
| 1956-57 | 322.8 | 135.2 | 420.2 | 878.2 | 233.2 | 1111.4 |
| 1955-56 | 315.2 | 123.7 | 434.5 | 873.4 | 232.2 | 1105.6 |
| 1954-55 | 307.7 | 112.6 | 439.2 | 859.5 | 219.1 | 1078.6 |
| 1953-54 | 312.9 | 106.8 | 453.7 | 873.4 | 217.3 | 1090.7 |
| 1952-53 | 299.7 | 98.3 | 424.5 | 822.5 | 198.4 | 1020.9 |
| 1951-52 | 298.3 | 94.7 | 388.8 | 781.8 | 187.8 | 969.6 |
| 1950-51 | 308.1 | 97.5 | 376.7 | 782.3 | 190.9 | 973.2 |