India's Foodgrain Production Estimated To Rise By 2% In 2020-21 Crop Year: Union Agriculture Ministry

Amid the ongoing farmers protest against the three farm laws passed by the Indian Parliament, the Union Agriculture Ministry has said India's foodgrain production is estimated to rise 2 per cent in 2020-21 crop year to an all-time high of 303.34 million tonnes.

The Agriculture Ministry's second advance estimates of production of the crops for the year 2020-2021(July-June cycle), released on Wednesday, February 24, showed 5.84 million tonnes higher than the 297.50 million tonnes of foodgrain produced during the 2019-2020 crop year.

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar attributed the rise in production to the 'tireless hard work of the farmers, research by the agricultural scientists and as well as farmer-friendly initiatives of the Central Government'.

According to The Times of India, the Ministry also said that the three farm laws passed by the Parliament would bring benefit to the country in long run.

As per the estimates, total production during 2020-21 is higher by 24.47 million tonnes than the previous five years of the average production of foodgrain.

The total production of rice in 2020-21 is estimated to record at 120.32 million tonnes against 118.87 million tonnes in the last year.

Wheat production is estimated to rise to 109.24 million tonnes from 107.86 million tonnes in the previous year.

According to the Ministry, total pulses production during 2020-21 is estimated at 24.42 million tonnes up from 23.03 million tonnes in 2019-20 crop year.

Among the non-foodgrain category, the production of sugarcane is pegged at 397.66 million tonnes from 370.50 million tonnes in the previous year, while cotton's output is expected to be the same as the last year.

Estimated production of groundnut and mustard oil will also touch a new height this year as the government is focusing on these crops to reduce India's import bill.

Cumulative rainfall during this year's monsoon has been 9 per cent higher than the long-period average. Accordingly, it helped in leading to the better output of most of the crops in the pandemic hit year.

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