Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, and Rural Development, Shivraj Singh Chouhan has released the first advanced estimates of production of main Kharif crops, according to which a record growth in production of major Kharif crops is expected, with total food grain production estimated to increase by 3.87 million tonnes to 173.33 million tonnes. A good production of Kharif rice and maize is anticipated. Shri Shivraj Singh stated that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, continuous positive progress is being made in the agricultural sector.
Union Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan informed that in some areas of the country, excessive rainfall affected crops, but most areas benefited greatly from good monsoon rains, resulting in overall good crop growth. According to the first advance estimates for 2025-26, the Kharif rice production is estimated at 124.504 million tonnes, which is 1.732 million tonnes more than the production of Kharif rice last year. Kharif maize production is estimated at 28.303 million tonnes, 3.495 million tonnes more than the previous year’s Kharif maize production.
The Union Agriculture Minister further said that the first advance estimates project total Kharif coarse cereals production at 41.414 million tonnes and total Kharif pulses production at 7.413 million tonnes for 2025-26. Within this, production of tur (arhar) is estimated at 3.597 million tonnes, urad at 1.205 million tonnes, and moong at 1.720 million tonnes. Total Kharif oilseed production in the country is estimated at 27.563 million tonnes for 2025-26. This includes peanut (groundnut) production at 11.093 million tonnes, which is 0.681 million tonnes more than last year, and soybean production estimated at 14.266 million tonnes. Sugarcane production is estimated at 475.614 million tonnes, showing an increase of 21.003 million tonnes compared to last year. Cotton production is estimated at 29.215 million bales (each bale weighing 170 kilograms), and production of Patson and Mesta is estimated at 8.345 million bales (each bale weighing kilogrammes).
These estimates are based on yield trends from previous years, other ground-level inputs, regional observations, and predominantly data received from states. Revisions will be made when actual crop cutting experiment yield data becomes available.
In another development, ICAR had denied allegations of bias in evaluation of gene-edited rice lines Pusa DST-1 and DRR Dhan 100 Kamala under AICRPR multi-location trials. According to the statement issued by ICAR, Gene-edited rice varieties Pusa DST-1 and DRR Dhan 100 Kamala demonstrate superior yield and stress tolerance in target performance environments. Under All India Coordinated Research Project on Rice (AICRPR), rice breeders nominate the lines developed by them for multi-location trials. The lines after receipt at AICRPR are blind-coded and sent to the AICRPR trial sites/centres (100 trial sites across the country) for independent field evaluation and validation for period of 2-3 years. Every year, over 1200 breeding lines are tested under this system, which has been in operation since 1965 and has contributed to the development and release of more than 1,750 rice varieties and hybrids.
