Rice output may fall by 6%

New Delhi, September 21

India’s rice production is expected to decline by 6 per cent to 104.99 million tonnes in the kharif season this year due to a fall in paddy acreage amid rainfall deficit in key producing states like Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.

Rice production stood at 111.76 million tonnes in the 2021-22 kharif season.

According to the first advance estimates for the 2022-23 season, the foodgrain production is estimated at 149.92 million tonnes as against 156.04 million tonnes in the previous season. However, it is higher by 6.98 million tonnes than the average foodgrain production of previous five years’ (2016-17 to 2020-21), officials said.

Sowing of paddy, the main kharif crop, declined by nearly 19 lakh hectares to 399.03 lakh hectares as compared to 417.93 lakh hectares mid-september year-ago period.

The paddy acreage declined in Jharkhand by 9.37 lakh hectares, followed by Madhya Pradesh (6.32 lakh hectares), West Bengal (3.65 lakh hectares), Uttar Pradesh (2.48 lakh hectares) and Bihar (1.97 lakh hectares).