The area under lentils in the ongoing rabi season was at 1.52 mln ha, down 4.9% on year but slightly higher than the five-year average of 1.42 mln ha for the period. The decline in the overall area under the legume crop was mainly due to a fall in acreage in the largest growing states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Farmers in Uttar Pradesh had sown lentils across 577,000 ha as of Wednesday, down 1.4% from a year ago, while those in Madhya Pradesh had sown it across 531,000 ha, 8% lower on year. The fall in area under lentils in these states was due to insufficient rains during the southwest monsoon season, which prompted farmers to shift to other crops. Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh received 10% and 8% below-normal rainfall, respectively, during the Jun-Sep monsoon season this year. The acreage was also sharply lower in Bihar, another key grower of lentils, where the crop was sown across 181,000 ha, down 10.8% on year. Jharkhand recorded the sharpest slump in sowing of the pulse. Lentil acreage in the state halved on year to 25,800 ha.