Crop planting in this kharif season has been 4.51% more than last year, setting the stage for record food grain production.

In the final tally of crop area released by agriculture ministry, the area under rice has grown by 5.19% while oilseeds area has gone up by 9.3% from last year. The pulses area also rose by 3.79% while cotton acreage grew by 2% from last year.

Monsoon rainfall across India was 9% above average in the June-September season, being well above normal for the second consecutive year.

“As per the first advance estimate, foodgrains production in kharif is projected to scale an all-time high of 144.52 million tonnes in 2020-21, propelled by record production of rice, which is likely to be 102.36 million tonnes,” said a senior agriculture ministry official.

Harvesting of pulses and rice has started, while the government has started procurement operations earlier than the scheduled date.

“Rice arrivals have started in mandis of Punjab, Haryana and Tamil Nadu in large number. We have started procurement at MSP of Rs 1,868-1,888 per quintal depending on the quality. We expect to procure around 50 million tonnes for this year,” the official said.

Based on the proposal from the states, procurement of 14.09 lakh tonnes of pulses and oilseeds oilseeds across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Haryana has been approved.