India’s kharif foodgrain production seen at record 164.71 million tonnes

India achieved record production of 165 million tonnes of foodgrains, on the back of an increase in the production of rice, jowar and maize during the kharif season, as per the first advance estimates released by the agriculture ministry.

Total kharif foodgrain production for 2024-25 is projected at 164.71 million tonnes, which is 8.94 million tonnes higher compared to the previous kharif crop and 12.46 million tonnes higher than the average kharif foodgrain production. 

The record kharif foodgrain production is due to increased production of rice, jowar and maize, as per the projections based on a digital crop survey in respect of four major producing states, viz, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Odisha.

The ministry said the first advance estimates of production of major agricultural crops for the year 2024-25 have been prepared on the basis of information received from states, remote sensing data from satellites, information from crop and weather watching agencies and other such information.

This is the first time that data from the Digital Crop Survey (DCS) conducted under the Digital Agriculture Mission has been utilised to prepare area estimates. 

This survey which is envisaged to replace the manual Girdawari system is an important step towards arriving at robust crop area estimates. 

DCS-based crop area estimation has been done for all the districts in the four states and this has led to substantial rise in area under rice particularly in Uttar Pradesh.

Total kharif production of rice during 2024-25 is estimated to be 119.93 million tonnes, which is 6.68 million tonnes higher compared to the previous year kharif rice production and 11.48 million tonnes higher than average kharif rice production. 

Kharif maize production is estimated at 24.54 million tonnes while kharif nutri/coarse cereals production is estimated to be 37.82 million tonnes. 

Total pulses production during kharif 2024-25 is estimated to be 6.95 million tonnes.

Kharif oilseeds production during 2024-25 is estimated to be 25.75 million tonnes, which is higher by 1.58 million tonnes compared to total kharif oilseeds production in the previous year. Kharif production of groundnut for 2024-25 is estimated at 10.36 million tonnes while soybean production is estimated at 13.36 million tonnes.

Sugarcane production in the country during 2024-25 is estimated to be 439.93 million tonnes. 

Cotton production is estimated to be 29.93 million bales (170 kg each). 

Production of jute and mesta is estimated to be 8.46 million bales (180 kg each).