New Delhi, March 24 -- India's summer crop sowing is slightly below thee year ago level, with lower acreage under rice and maize offsetting the gains in pulses, agriculture and farmers welfare ministry data showed.

As on 24 March, the total sown area was at 4.27 million hectares, down from 4.37 million a year ago. The season's sowing is still in progress. Last year, summer crop acreage totalled 8.4 million hectares.

India follows three main cropping seasons: summer, kharif and rabi. Summer cropping, also known as the 'zaid' season, typically runs from March to June. This period is a short window between the rabi (winter) and kharif (monsoon) seasons. Zaid crops are mainly cultivated on irrigated land, and are known for being short-durat...