Following good monsoons, total foodgrain production is estimated at record 275.68 MT

As a result of very good rainfall during monsoon 2016 and various policy initiatives taken by the Centre, the country is set to witness record foodgrain production in the current year. However, sugarcane production is set to record a 12 per cent fall.

As per Fourth Advance Estimates for 2016-17, total foodgrain production in the country is estimated at 275.68 million tonnes (MT) which is higher by 10.64 million tonnes (4.01 per cent) than the previous record production of foodgrain of 265.04 million tonnes achieved during 2013-14.

The 4th Advance Estimates of production of major crops for 2016-17 were released by the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare today. The assessment of production of different crops is based on the feedback received from the states and validated with information available from other sources.

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An official release said the current year's production is also higher by 18.67 million tonnes (7.27 per cent) than the previous five years' (2011-12 to 2015-16) average production of foodgrains. The current year's production is significantly higher by 24.12 million tonnes (9.59 per cent) than the last year's foodgrain production.

RICE

The total production of rice is estimated at record 110.15 million tonnes which is also a new record. This year's rice production is higher by 3.50 million tonnes (3.28 per cent) than previous record production of 106.65 million tonnes achieved during 2013-14. It is also higher by 4.74 million tonnes (4.49 per cent) than the five years' average rice production of 105.42 million tonnes.

Production of rice has increased significantly by 5.74 million tonnes (5.50 per cent) than the production of 104.41 million tonnes during 2015-16.

WHEAT

Production of wheat, estimated at 98.38 million tonnes, is also a record. This year's wheat production is higher by 2.64 per cent than the previous record production of 95.85 million tonnes achieved during 2013-14. Production of wheat during 2016-17 is also higher by 5.77 million tonnes (6.23 per cent) than the average wheat production.

The current year's production is higher by 6.10 million tonnes (6.61 per cent) as



compared to wheat production of 92.29 million tonnes achieved during 2015-16.

COARSE CEREALS

Production of coarse cereals estimated at a new record level of 44.19 million tonnes is higher than the average production by 2.85 million tonnes (6.88 per cent). It is higher than the previous record production of 43.40 million tonnes achieved during 2010-11 by 0.79 million tonnes (1.82 per cent).

Current year's production is also higher by 5.67 million tonnes (14.72 per cent) as compared to their production of 38.52 million tonnes achieved during 2015-16.

PULSES

As a result of significant increase in the area coverage and productivity of all major pulses, total production of pulses during 2016-17 is estimated at 22.95 million tonnes which is higher by 3.70 million tonnes (19.22 per cent) than the previous record production of 19.25 million tonnes achieved during 2013-14.

Production of pulses during 2016-17 is also higher by 5.32 million tonnes (30.16 per cent) than their five years' average production. Current year's production is higher by 6.61 million tonnes (40.41 per cent) than the previous year's production of 16.35 million tonnes.

OILSEEDS

With an increase of 6.85 million tonnes (27.11 per cent) over the previous year, total oilseeds production in the country is estimated at 32.10 million tonnes. The production of oilseeds during 2016-17 is also higher by 2.84 million tonnes (9.72 per cent) than the five years' average oilseeds production.

SUGARCANE

The production of sugarcane is estimated at 306.72 million tonnes which is lower by 41.73 million tonnes (-11.98 per cent) than the last year's production of 348.45 million tonnes.

COTTON

Despite lower area coverage during 2016-17, higher productivity of cotton has resulted in higher production of 33.09 million bales (of 170 kg each). This is an increase of 10.29 per cent, as compared to 30.01 million bales during 2015-16.

JUTE

The production of jute and mesta estimated at 10.60 million bales (of 180 kg each) is marginally higher (0.73 per cent) than their production of 10.52 million bales during the last year.