Despite last year’s drought,wheat stands its ground

The overall dip in the foodgrain output is largely on account of the losses in the kharif season due to drought,which dragged the overall paddy output by about 10 per cent from 99.18 million tonnes last year to 89.31 million tonnes estimated this year.

However,the estimates released suggest that wheat output this year is going to be marginally up from last year at about 80.98 million tonnes as against 80.68 million tonnes last year.

Total oilseed output during the entire year is slated to go down by about 2.31 million tonnes (over 8 per cent) from 27.72 million tonnes to 25.41 million tonnes this year.

Sugarcane production is slated to go marginally down by about 3.6 per cent this year,that is,from 285 million tonnes last year to about 274.66 million tonnes this year. Sugarcane estimates,however,is higher than the February forecast of 251.3 million tonnes.