Farmers in the country have sown kharif rice across 551,000 hectares, up 21.9% on year, as of Thursday. The acreage is 48.1% higher than the five-year average for the same period. The area under the rice crop in Nagaland was at about 143,000 hectares as of Thursday, up 8.3% on year, while in Arunachal Pradesh, the area was at 97,000 heactares, up from 85,000 hectares from a year ago. Uttar Pradesh, the largest producer of rice in the country, has not assigned any area under acreage up till now, while West Bengal the second largest producer of the crop has assigned 43,000 hectares, up from 42,000 hectares a year ago.