A normal monsoon last year, following two consecutive seasons of drought, has ensured that the country’s foodgrains production will hit record highs in 2016-17.

The third advance estimates of production of major crops released by the Agriculture Ministry on Tuesday projected that foodgrains output of the previous year would be at an all-time high of 273.38 million tonnes (mt).

However, this glut in production is wreaking havoc in many States, with prices of many agricultural commodities crashing, triggering farmer agitations. The latest output is expected to surpass the previous record of 265 mt of foodgrains in 2013-14.

All major cereal crops and most pulses are projected to have a bumper yield. While cereal output is projected to grow to 251 mt from 235.22 mt in 2015-16, the production of pulses may witness a quantum leap to 22.4 mt from 16.35 mt, thanks to more acreage.

A similar uptick is expected in oilseeds too. As against 25.25 mt in 2015-16, the combined output for all nine major oilseeds crops is projected to top 32.5 mt.

Sugarcane, on the other hand, is expected to have a drastic fall in output from the previous year. This year’s yield is estimated to be 306 mt against 348.4 mt in 2015-16.

Total production of rice is estimated to be 109.15 mt, which is 4.74 mt more than 104.41 mt during 2015-16.

At 97.44 mt, wheat output is projected to be 5.15 mt more than the 92.29 mt recorded in the previous year.

A similar trend is expected in coarse cereals whose yield at 44.39 mt is 5.9 mt more than 38.52 mt in 2015-16.

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