Last year’s good monsoon rains helped, output of both Food grain and horticulture production hit a record high in the July 2022 to June 2023 crop year, with an estimated production of 330 million tons and 352 million tons, respectively.
While foodgrain production in 2022-23 recorded an increase of 14 million tons (over 4%) over 2021-22 as per the agriculture ministry, the output of horticultural produce showed an increase of about 5 million tons (over 1%) compared to the previous year.
The Agriculture Ministry released both Food grain and horticulture production estimates on October 18.
The Ministry said that final estimates for food grain output in 2022-23 stood at a record 329.68 million tons, up 4% or 14.1 million tons higher than a year ago.
In the foodgrains basket, paddy (rice) and wheat reported record production in the 2022-23 crop year (July-June cycle) at 135 million tons and 110 million tons, respectively.
As per this, the total production of rice in 2022-23 is estimated at a record 135.75 million tons, up by 6.28 million tons from the previous year’s output.
Fruit & vegetable production
Fruit production stood at 108 million tons in 2022-23 compared to 107 million tons in 2021-22 whereas the production of vegetables stood at 213 million tons in 2022-23 compared to 209 million tons in the previous year. potato output was 60 million tons compared to 56 million tons in 2021-22.
Rice Production
Rice output is also 15.36 million tons more than the last five years’ average production of 120.39 million tons.
Wheat production
Production of wheat during 2022-23 is estimated at a record 110.55 million tons. It is 2.8 million tons more than the previous year’s wheat production. It is also an improvement of 4.8 million tons compared to the average wheat production of 105.73 million tons.
Pulses production
Total pulses production during 2022-23 is estimated at 26 million tons which is higher by 1.4 million tons compared to the last five years’ average pulses production of 24.6 million tons.
Oilseed production
Production of oilseed in the country during 2022-23 is estimated at a record 41.35 million tons, up by 3.39 million tons compared to the previous year’s output.
The horticulture production estimates that the output of fruits, vegetables, plantation crops, flowers and honey is also expected to have increased over the year. Fruit production is estimated to have touched 108.34 million tons in the year 2022-23 as compared to 107.51 million tons in the year 2021-22.
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh credits the record output of foodgrains and horticultural crops to the hard work of farmers, the efficiency of scientists and the farmer-friendly government policies.