NEW DELHI: The government on Thursday released the second advance estimation of food production for the year 2023-24, showing an increase in food grain production, especially in rice and wheat. However, there are concerns regarding pulse production.
The Kharif food grain production is estimated at 1541.87 LMT, and Rabi food grain production is estimated at 1551.61 LMT for the year 2023-24. This second estimate of Kharif crop production is over 56 LMT higher than the first estimate.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare has released the Second Advance Estimates of Major Agricultural Crops (Kharif & Rabi Season) for the year 2023-24. Starting from the previous agricultural year, summer has been segregated from the Rabi season. Therefore, this year’s Second Advance Estimate of area, production, and yield includes only two seasons: Kharif and Rabi.
The government has estimated Kharif rice production at 1114.58 LMT compared to 1105.12 LMT in 2022-23, indicating an increase of 9.46 LMT. The current estimate of Rabi rice, yet to start harvesting, is estimated at 123.57 LMT. Similarly, though the harvesting of wheat is yet to commence, the government has estimated a bumper production. According to the second advance estimate, wheat production stands at 1120.19 LMT, which is higher by 14.65 LMT compared to the previous year’s production of 1105.54 LMT.
However, there are concerns over the production of major pulses like Tur and Gram. The second advance estimation places the production of Tur at 33.39 LMT, which is approximately similar to last year’s production of 33.12 LMT. Gram production is estimated at 121.61 LMT, marginally lower than the previous year but higher than the average Gram production from 2018-19 to 2022-23. Lentil production is estimated at 16.36 LMT, which is 0.77 LMT higher than the previous year’s production of 15.59 LMT. The government estimates that the production of coarse grains is higher than the previous year.