Food grain production in 2019-20 hits record high

This has been disclosed in the 2nd Advance Estimates of production of major crops for 2019-20 released by the Union Agriculture Ministry, on Tuesday.

The total food grain production is higher by 6.74 million tonnes(mt) than the production of food grain of 285.21 million tonnes, according to an official release. The cumulative rainfall in the country during the monsoon season (June to September, 2019) has been 10% higher than Long Period Average (LPA).

Accordingly, the production of most of the crops for the agricultural year 2019-20 has been estimated higher than their normal production. These estimates are subject to revision on account of more precise information flowing over the time, the release said.

As per 2nd Advance Estimates, the estimated production of major crops during 2019-20 is food grain 291.95 million tonnes with rice at 117.47 mt, wheat 106.21 mt, nutri / coarse cereals 45.24 mt, maize 28.08 mt, pulses 23.02 mt, tur 3.69 million tonnes and gram 11.22 million.

The total oilseeds production has been estimated at 34.19 mt with soyabean at 13.63 mt and rapeseed and mustard 9.11 mt. Groundnut production was estimated at 8.24 mt while cotton recorded a production of 34.89 million bales (of 170 kg each), jute and mesta 9.81 million bales (of 180 kg each. Sugarcane clocked a production of 353.85 mt.