The production of wheat is expected to touch an all-time of over 100 million tonnes (MT) in the current 2017-18 crop year (July-June) on account of likely increase in acreage and yields. As per Agriculture Secretary S K Pattanayak, in the 2016-17 crop year, wheat production had reached a record 98.36 MT.
The government has kept a target of 97.50 MT wheat output for the current year. Sowing of wheat, the main rabi (winter) crop, begins from October and harvesting from March.
As per the agriculture ministry’s data, area sown to wheat remained lower by 4.77% at 283.46 lakh hectare till last week of the rabi season compared to 297.67 lakh hectare in the year-ago period.