India registered a record production of rice, wheat, cereals, pulses and cotton in 2016-17 due to a good monsoon. As per the third advance estimate of production of foodgrains released on Tuesday, the total foodgrain output will be an all-time high at 273.38 million tonnes (MT) in 2016-17. This will be over eight MT more than the previous record of 265.04 MT in 2013-14.
The total foodgrain output was 251.57 MT in the year 2015-16. The record harvest is expected to help keep food inflation under control.
The current year’s production is also higher by 16.37 MT (6.37 per cent) than the previous five years’ (2011-12 to 2015-16) average production of food grains. The current year’s production is higher by 21.81 MT (8.67 per cent) than last year’s food grain production. The target for the next crop year (2017-18) was made after the recent prediction of
normal and well-distributed monsoon rainfall (during June-September period) by
the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
According to estimates, the Government has projected wheat output to reach an all-time high of 97.44 MT in the 2016-17 crop year (July-June). India had harvested 92.29 MT wheat during the 2015-16 crop year. Wheat, the main Rabi crop, is being harvested now. The previous record was 95.85 MT achieved in 2013-14.
Production of rice, the most popular staple, is estimated at a record 109.15 MT, which is also a new record. This year’s rice production is higher by 2.50 MT (2.34 per cent) than previous record production of 106.65 MT achieved during 2013-14.
It is also higher by 3.73 MT (3.54 per cent) than five years’ average rice production of 105.42 MT. Production of rice has increased significantly by 4.74 MT (4.54 per cent) than the production of 104.41 MT during 2015-16.
Coarse cereals production is also estimated to be a record 44.39 MT in 2016-17 as against 38.52 MT last year. The previous record was 31.20 MT during the 2013-14 crop year. The current year’s production is also higher by 5.87 MT (15.23 per cent) as compared to their production of 38.52 MT achieved during 2015-16.
Pulses output has gone up substantially to 22.40 MT in 2016-17 from 16.35 MT last year as the Government encouraged farmers to grow pulses in a big way by announcing higher support price and procurement. The previous record in pulses was 19.25 MT in 2013-14. Among pulses, tur output is projected to be a record 4.60 MT in the 2016-17 crop year as against 2.56 MT last year, while urad output is 2.93 MT compared to 1.95 MT in the said period.
Despite lower area coverage during 2016-17, the cotton production will be 32.58 million bales (of 170 kg each), i.e. an increase of 8.57 per cent, as compared to 30.01 million bales during 2015-16.
Food grain basket comprises of rice, wheat, coarse cereals, and pulses. These crops are grown in both Kharif (summer) and Rabi (winter) season.