Centre pegs India's foodgrain output at record 330MT in 2022-23

Despite a prolonged spell of untimely rain and hail in April 2023, the ministry said the production of winter-sown wheat is pegged at 112.74 million tonnes.

India’s food grain production in 2022-23 is estimated to be 330.53 million tonnes, with record output of rice, wheat, maize, soybean, rapeseed, mustard and sugarcane, according to the third advance estimates released by the agriculture ministry Thursday.

Food output is closely linked to inflation as well as growth of the rural economy. (PTI)

Despite a prolonged spell of untimely rain and hail in April 2023, the ministry said the production of winter-sown wheat is pegged at 112.74 million tonnes, five million tonnes more than last year’s output.

“The assessment of production of different crops is based on the feedback received from states. This assessment shall undergo further revision over successive estimates based upon feedback received from the states, alternative sources and other factors,” the farm ministry said in a statement.

Food output is closely linked to inflation as well as growth of the rural economy. Around 55% of India’s population depends on agriculture for livelihood.

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Output of rice in 2022-23 is estimated at a record 135.52 million tonnes, up six million tonnes from 2021-22, the data show. The ministry releases four quarterly advance estimates of food ouput in a year.

The data showed production of maize during 2022-23 is estimated at 35.91 million tonnes, which is higher by 2.18 million tonnes over 2021-22, while output of all pulses has been pegged at 27.5 million tonnes, around 200,000 tonnes more than the previous year’s production.

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Total oilseeds production in the country during 2022-23 is estimated at a record 40.99 million tonnes, which is higher by 3 million tonnes than the previous year’s oilseeds output, the estimates showed.

The production of soybean and ‘rapeseed and mustard’ is estimated at 14.9 million tonnes and 124.94 million tonnes respectively, which is higher by 1.9 million tonnes and 500,000 tonne than the output in 2021-22.