As the impact of the worst northeast monsoon in 140 years unfolds across Tamil Nadu, farmers sowed a third less land than they did in 2015-16, water levels in six major reservoirs continued to plunge, and suicides in the farm sector increased over five years.
In the midst of this agrarian turmoil in a state that produced 5.6% of India’s rice in 2014-15, the agriculture ministry has predicted a record national harvest.
The agriculture ministry’s third advance estimate forecast India’s foodgrain production to
