Centre projects record wheat, mustard and chana crop this rabi season

Estimates 4% increase in wheat output, around 1% for chana, and 7% for mustard

Wheat production in the coming rabi marketing season (2023-24) is expected to be at an all-time high of 112.18 million tonnes (MT), up 4.12 per cent from last year, on the back of a sharp increase in acreage, according to the second advance estimates of the agriculture ministry released on Tuesday.

Production of mustard and chana are also projected to hit record highs this season, the estimates show.

A good harvest of wheat, chana and mustard will help the Centre to rein in food inflation, particularly in cereals, which rose again in January.

However, the forecasts, particularly of wheat, rest on the assumption that the weather will remain favourable for the standing crop in the coming few weeks and there won’t be any unusual rise in temperatures like last year, which led to a drop in output.

In the 2021-22 crop year, the Centre first estimated wheat production at 111.32 MT, but later scaled it down to 107.74 MT because of bad weather. The wheat crop produced in a year is marketed the next year.

Trade sources, however, feel last year’s wheat output was much below 100 MT, which was reflected in lower official procurement and a sharp spike in prices through the year.

Meanwhile, the second estimates pegged the production of chana (gram), the biggest pulse grown in the country, at 13.63 MT this year, which is 0.66 per cent more than the same period last year.

Production of mustard, the main oilseed grown in the rabi season, is projected at a record 12.81 MT, which is 7.11 per cent more than last year.