Estimates of unprecedented high rice production that will take Kharif foodgrains production to record levels by 2024-2025 | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Buoyed by good monsoon rains and increased acreage, Kharif foodgrains production is estimated at a record high of around 165 million tonnes (MT) during the 2024-25 crop year, over 5% (9 MT) higher than the previous year. The basket of foodgrains includes an all-time high production of paddy at around 120 tonnes, which is over 6% (7 tonnes) higher than the production in the 2023-24 crop year, according to the Agriculture Ministry’s estimates released on Tuesday.
The record estimate of paddy, the major Kharif crop, comes amid excess rice stocks in government offices that have led to sluggish procurement pace during the current marketing season. The paddy harvest is expected to be completed across the country by mid-November.
For the first time, the ministry has used data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Digital Crop Survey (DCS) being implemented under the Digital Agriculture Mission, to replace the manual ‘Girdawari’ system (random estimation based on crop cutting experiments at the time of harvest).
The use of digital research is an important step towards robust crop area estimates. Such an estimate has been made for Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Odisha, with 100% districts under DCS by Kharif 2024. “This has led to a substantial increase in the area under paddy, especially in UP,” the ministry said while it the first advance estimates of Kharif crop production for the year 2024-2025.
In the Kharif food grain basket, maize (24 tonnes) and jowar (2 tonnes) also showed record production, while pulses production is expected to remain almost flat at almost 7 tonnes.
Among non-food grains, oilseed production is likely to increase marginally to nearly 26 tonnes, while sugarcane production is expected to decline to 440 tonnes from 453 tonnes last year. Cotton production is also estimated lower at almost 30 million bales (170 kg each).