Indian farmers have planted winter crops on 59 million hectares so far this season, down nearly 3 percent from a year earlier, raising fears that drought will drive down farm output. The winter crop planting season began on October 1, 2015.
The country's first back-to-back drought in nearly three decades and warm winters could hit the production of important crops like wheat and rapeseed.
Planting of wheat, the key winter-sown crop is down 4.5 percent so far, according to data released by India's federal farm ministry on Friday.
Though agriculture accounts for about 15 percent of the south Asian nation's $2 trillion economy, three-fifths of its 1.25 billion people depend on it for their livelihood.