Indian farmers shift from rapeseed to wheat

India’s rapeseed outlook for the 2025/26 season has been revised downward by the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the US Department of Agriculture, as farmers increasingly switch to wheat cultivation in search of higher returns. The agency lowered its estimate of harvested rapeseed area by 1.6% to 9.1 million hectares.

According to FAS, the shift is largely driven by favorable conditions for wheat following the strong 2025 monsoon, which improved soil moisture and water availability. Farmers in Rajasthan — the country’s largest rapeseed-producing state — as well as in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, are prioritizing wheat due to its higher profitability.

Average wheat yields in India are estimated at about 3.5 tonnes per hectare, significantly exceeding rapeseed yields of roughly 1.2–1.4 tonnes per hectare. These productivity differences have encouraged producers to expand wheat plantings.

FAS now expects India to harvest a record wheat area of 32.8 million hectares in the 2025/26 marketing year, with production projected at 117.9 million tonnes.

Despite the downward revision, rapeseed acreage in 2025/26 is still expected to be about 2% higher than in the previous season, supported by strong prices in 2024/25. However, reduced production prospects also prompted FAS to cut its rapeseed crushing forecast from 10.9 million tonnes to 10.7 million tonnes.

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