Despite inclement weather, record grain yield likely in India

Karam Prakash

New Delhi, May 25

Though the damage to the various standing crops was widespread, India’s overall total foodgrain production this year has been estimated at record 330.534 million tonnes. According to the third advance estimates for 2022-23 released on Thursday, this is higher by nearly 15 million tonnes as compared to previous year.

Wheat yield is set to touch a record this year. Estimated at 112.7 million tonnes, India’s wheat production has already surpassed this year’s target of 112 million tonnes.

This year’s estimated wheat production would be five million tonnes more than the previous year’s production of 107.74 million tonnes, officials of the Agriculture Ministry said on Thursday.

The total production of rice during 2022-23 is estimated at record 135.54 million tonnes. It is higher by 6.07 million tonnes as compared to the previous year.

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar said, “the agriculture sector is developing day by day due to the hard work of farmers, proficiency of scientists and farmer-friendly policies of the government.”

Given the widespread damage to the standing crops, the Union Government last month relaxed quality norms for wheat procurement on the request of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.

“The assessment of production of different crops is based on the feedback received from states and validated with information available from other sources,” said an official of the Agriculture Ministry.