Kharif foodgrain production to reach record high of 135 million tonnes

A record high production of 135.03 million tonnes (MT) of Kharif food grains has been estimated by the Ministry of Agriculture on Thursday.

The first advanced estimates for 2016-17 showed that the production of these foodgrains this year is up by 11.02 MT.

In 2014, Kharif foodgrains production was at 124.01 MT, the report stated.

“…Kharif foodgrains production is also higher by 7.65 MT than the last five years’ (2010-11 to 2014-15) average production of 127.38 million tonnes,” the Ministry said in a statement.

Estimated production of rice is the highest among all other foodgrains at 93.88 MT, followed by coarse cereals which is estimated to be at 32.45 MT.

The report stated that rice production is higher by 1.1 MT this year than previous record production of 92.78 million tonnes achieved during 2011-12.

As a result of significant increase in the area coverage and productivity of tur and urad, total production of Kharif pulses estimated at record level of 8.70 MT which is higher by 3.16 MT than the last year’s production of 5.54 MT. The production of Kharif pulses is also higher by 2.54 MT than their last five years’ average production, the report added.

In an earlier report by Zee Business, we stated that the total area sown with Kharif crops still stands behind the area sown in the previous years.

In July, the area sown was 406.27 lakh hectares as compared to 431.82 lakh hectares during the same period last year.

However, the report by the Ministry stated that as a result of favourable monsoon rainfall, area and yield of most of the Kharif crops is expected to be higher.