India set for record foodgrain output

Wheat production was projected at 96.6 million tonnes

India is set to see the highest foodgrain production this crop year, according to the government’s third advanced estimate released on Tuesday.

Boosted by normal southwest monsoon — a first in two years — foodgrain production in the 2016-17 crop year, which ends in June, would be 273.4 million tonnes, almost nine per cent more than that of the previous year. 

For many farmers, though, a bumper harvest isn’t good news, as they have been forced to sell their produce, particularly pulses, dirt cheap. Production of grains, according to the second estimate released in February, would be around 272 million tonnes. 

Wheat production