The country’s foodgrain production is projected to decline by 1.78 per cent to 124.05 million tonnes in this Kharif season due to poor monsoon. Foodgrain output was 126.31 million tonnes in the last kharif season.
Releasing the first advance estimates for Kharif crops, the Agriculture Ministry said that the cumulative rainfall during the current monsoon season has been deficient by 15 per cent.
As per the first estimate, rice output is projected to decline to 90.61 million tonnes in the 2015-16 kharif season against 90.86 million tonnes in the same season of previous year. The pulses output is also estimated to decline to 5.56 million tonnes from 5.63 million tonnes.
However, oilseeds production is likely to increase to 19.89 million tonnes compared to 18.32 million tonnes last year.