Wheat output in India, second largest grower, rises 1,000 pc

NEW DELHI: India's wheat production increased almost 1,000 per cent in the past 6 decades - thanks to the Green Revolution of the 1960s. To put it into context, the country's total wheat output rose from 98.5 lakh tonne in the early 1960s to 1,068.4 lakh tonne in 2021-22, the centre said on Wednesday through a data chart.

India now stands second in total production of wheat globally. In 2021-22 itself, India exported a record 70 lakh tonnes of foodgrain.

Coming to the overall yield for foodgrains, India's per hectare yield rose threefold since the 1960s. Per hectare output of foodgrains rose from 757 kilograms in the mid-1960s to 2.39 tonne in 2021.

The centre argued that the 'Green Revolution' made India self-reliant in food grain production and enhanced agricultural productivity.

Meanwhile, the production of total food grains in India during the 2021-22 season is estimated to be at record 315.72 million tonnes, a rise of 4.98 million tonnes than harvested during 2020-21, as per the fourth advance estimates of production of major agricultural crops released by the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on August 17.

In 2021-22, the production is estimated to be higher by 25 million tonnes than the previous five years (2016-17 to 2020-21) average production.

Among crops, record harvest is expected for rice, maize, gram, pulses, rapeseed and mustard, oilseeds and sugarcane.

Production of wheat during 2021-22 is estimated at 106.84 million tonnes. It is higher by 2.96 million tonnes than the last five years' average wheat production of 103.88 million tonnes.

Meanwhile, going by the latest acreage data available, the area under paddy cultivation, a key kharif crop, is over 8 per cent lower than the previous season at 343.7 lakh hectares.

Farmers in India have sown less paddy this Kharif season. Kharif crops are mostly sown during monsoon -June and July, and the produce is harvested during October and November.

The primary reason for the decline in the sown area could be attributed to the slow advancement of the monsoon in the month of June and its uneven spread in July in most parts of the country.

Many in India were worried that less area under paddy under cultivation so far this Kharif may lead to low production of the foodgrain. Overall Kharif sowing, however, has been relatively better.

It is just a little over 2 per cent lower than 2021 at 1013 lakh hectares. In 2021, total sowing was across 1038 lakh hectares, the latest Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare data showed.