India achieves record food production for 2024-25 driven by significant increases in rice, wheat

By Jitendra Choubey

India has achieved record total food production for the year 2024-25 compared to the previous year. This increase in production is primarily due to a significant rise in rice production, along with a moderate increase in wheat and coarse grains, while other major food categories, such as pulses and oilseeds, saw only minor increases.Overall, there was a 7.65% increase in food production compared to last year.

Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, released the final estimates of crop production for 2024-25 in New Delhi. He expressed gratitude to the nation’s farmers for achieving this record-high output.

The total food production is reported to be 3,577.32 lakh metric tonnes (LMT), or 357.7 million tonnes, which represents a 7.65% increase over the last year’s total of 2023-24.Rice production has reached a record level of 1,501.84 LMT, which is 123.59 LMT higher than last year’s figure of 1,378.25 LMT. Wheat production also saw substantial growth, increasing to 1,179.45 LMT, an addition of 46.53 LMT over last year’s production of 1,132.92 LMT.

Chouhan welcomed the encouraging rise in the production of pulses and oilseeds as well. The production of pulses increased by approximately 6% compared to last year, totaling 256.83 LMT, which is an increase of 14.37 LMT. Within this category, moong production rose to 42.44 LMT.Additionally, oilseed production increased by around 8% compared to the previous year, totaling 430 LMT, an increase of 33.2 LMT. Among oilseeds, soybean production reached 152.68 LMT, and groundnut production increased to 119.42 LMT.

Maize and ‘Shri Anna’ (millet) outputs are estimated at 434.09 LMT and 185.92 LMT, respectively, compared to last year’s outputs of 376.65 LMT and 175.72 LMT.The government has also highlighted the significant increase in food grain production over the past 10 years. From 251.54 million tonnes in 2015-16, production has risen by 106 million tonnes to reach 357.73 million tonnes

Total food grains production in the last two years:Food production 2023-24 2024-25Rice: 1378.25 LMT 1,501.84 LMTWheat: 1132.07 LMT 1,179.45 LMTCoarse Grains: 569.36 LMT 639.21 LMTPulses: 242.46 LMT 256.83 LMTOilseeds: ~396.69 LMT 429.89 LMTSugar cane: 4531.58 LMT 4,546.11 LMTCotton (170kg/bale): 325.22 lakh bales 297.24 lakh balesTotal food production: 3322.98 LMT 3,577.32 LMT

This article has been republished from The New Indian Express