Grains Production Pegged At Record 216.13M Tonnes

New Delhi: The year gone-by has seen the country's out put of foodgrains, cotton, sugarcane and soyabean scale all-time-highs. According to the fourth advance estimates released by the Union Agriculture Ministry here on July 19, total foodgrain production in 2006-07 has been placed at 216.13 million tonnes (mt), exceeding not only the 211.78 mt 'third advance estimates' of April 4, but also the previous record of 213.19 mt set during 2003-04. Production of wheat is now assessed at 74.89 mt (up from the third advance estimate of 73.70 mt), with those for rice (92.76 mt against 91.05 mt), coarse cereals (34.25 mt against 32.92 mt) and pulses (14.23 mt versus 14.11 mt) also being revised upwards. The latest 74.89 mt estimate for 2006-07 marks the country's second-best wheat harvest since the 76.37 mt crop of 1999-2000. The most impressive performance, however, has been for cotton and sugarcane. Cotton production in 2006-07 is estimated at a record 22.70 million bales (of 170 kg each), consolidating on the gains since the introduction of Bt hybrids in 2002. For sugarcane, the Agriculture Ministry has further revised upwards its estimate of out put to 345.31 mt compared with 322.94 mt, 315.53 mt and 283.40 mt in the previous third, second and first advance estimates, respectively. This massive 62 mt revision has, in a way, been damaging to the sugar industry, which was subjected to a prolonged export ban on the basis of the initial low estimate. Among oilseeds, soyabean output scaled a new record of 8.86 mt in 2006-07.