India's rice output may hit record 152 MT in 2025-26, says US Department of Agriculture
India is projected to achieve a historic peak in rice production, hitting 152 million tonnes during the 2025-26 season. Meanwhile, wheat production is also on the rise. Unfortunately, the oilseed sector might face a downturn. Analysts attribute th...
New Delhi: India's rice production in the 2025-26 crop marketing season is estimated to touch an all-time high of 152 million tonnes while production of oilseed is expected to drop to 40.3 million metric tonnes from 41.50 million metric tonnes last year, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The production of wheat, the main winter crop, is expected to increase to 117.9 million tonnes from 113 million tonnes a year ago, it said.
The 2025-26 marketing season covers the June 2025-July 2026 period. Farmers sowed 24.14 million hectares of wheat till December 5, against 21.78 million hectares a year ago.
"The record production (of rice) is due to an increase in planted area and ideal in-season growing conditions as verified by satellite imagery analysis," the USDA said, adding that farmers were drawn to shift from cotton to rice due to its potential for higher yields and less risk than cotton.
The planted rice benefitted from the favourable southwest monsoon rains during planting, coupled with the late withdrawal of the monsoon, leading to favourable precipitation in late August and September.
The decline in production estimate of oilseed is despite an increase in area to about 8.41 million hectares till December 5, against 8.17 million hectares a year ago.
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The government is implementing the National Mission on Edible Oils - Oilseeds to boost domestic oilseed production as part of efforts to strive toward self-sufficiency in edible oil production and reduce import dependence. The mission covers several oilseeds such as rapeseed and mustard, groundnut, soybean and sunflower. The government has also released 432 high yielding varieties or hybrids of nine major oilseeds and identified more than 600 value chain clusters covering more than one million hectares annually for this purpose.
India's agriculture ministry has yet to release an estimate for the 2025-26 marketing season. It estimates rice production to be 124.504 million tonnes in the kharif (monsoon) season, 1.732 million tonnes more than last year's kharif production. The ministry estimates total kharif food grain production at 173.33 million tonnes for the 2025-26 marketing season.
