India is all set to harvest a record 295.67 million tonnes of food grains in 2019-20 (July-June) as per the third advance estimates released by the Centre in May. As per the report, total food grain production in the country is estimated at a record 295.67 million tonnes which is higher by 10.46 million tonnes against the 285.21 million tonnes in the corresponding period the year before.

The production during 2019-20 is higher by 25.89 million tonnes than the previous five years’ (2014-15 to 2018-19) average production of food grains. The third advance estimates of production of major crops for 2019-20 was released by the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, under the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in May.

The cumulative rainfall in the country during the monsoon season (June to September, 2019) has been 10 per cent higher than the Long Period Average (LPA). Accordingly, the production of most of the crops for the agricultural year 2019-20 has been estimated higher than their normal production. These estimates are subject to revision on account of more precise information coming in over time. The total production of rice during 2019-20 is estimated at a record 117.94 million tonnes. It is higher by 8.17 million tonnes than the five years’ average production of 109.77 million tonnes.

Production of wheat during 2019-20 is estimated at a record 107.18 million tonnes. It is higher by 3.58 million tonnes as compared to wheat production during 2018-19 and is higher by 11.02 million tonnes than the average wheat production of 96.16 million tonnes. Production of nutri/coarse cereals estimated at a record 47.54 million tonnes, is higher by 4.48 million tonnes than the production of 43.06 million tonnes achieved during 2018-19. Further, it is also higher by 4.50 million tonnes than the average production.