2017-18 kharif food production touches new record

In what can be termed as encouraging, India’s food production for the 2017-18 kharif season has increased considerably despite patchy monsoon last year.

The second advance estimate of food production for major crops has set a record. The estimated production is going to be 277.5 million tonnes (mt). It is 2.37 mt higher than the previous year and is the highest since Independence. The Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare released the production data on Tuesday in New Delhi.

Rice production has also set a new milestone. The estimated production is 111.01 mt, which has increased by 1.31 mt compared to the previous year. The estimated production of coarse cereals (45.42 mt), maize (27.14 mt) and pulses (23.95 mt) made new records whereas the production of wheat is estimated to be 97.11 mt, which is lower by 1.40 mt than the previous year.

Oilseeds production is estimated to be 29.88 mt, which is lower by 1.39 mt than the production of 31.28 mt during 2016-17.

The production of pulses rose by 0.82 mt than previous year’s 23.13 mt. In 2016-17, India produced the required amount of pulses. The yearly consumption of pulses require around 23 mt, but the average production of pulses is around 17 mt. This gap is usually meet through imports. But last year and this year too, India achieved self sustenance in pulses.

The production of sugarcane in the country is estimated at 353.23 mt, which also higher by 11.19 mt than the average sugarcane production of 342.04 mt. The production of cotton has also increased to 33.92 mt which is higher by 0.41 mt than average production of 33.50 mt bales. (1 bale=170 kg)

Riding on a near normal monsoon of 95 per cent of long period average, the new production details has created a record of sorts. The countrywide cumulative rainfall for the overall season from June 1 till September 30 was recorded at 841.3 mm against the normal rains of 887.5 mm.

The assessment of food production for kharif crops was not encouraging due to erratic rainfall. As per the first estimation released around the end of monsoon rice production was pegged at 94.48 mt and coarse grains at 31.49 mt.

India