The total foodgrain production in the country was estimated at 271.98 million tonnes in 2016-17, the Agriculture Ministry said on Wednesday.

The ministry called it a record as bumper harvest was expected in rice, wheat, coarse cereals, maize, pulses, tur (pigeon pea), urad (split black gram) and oil seeds such as soyabean, castor seed and groundnut. 

The ministry arrived at the estimates after assessment of production of different crops based on the feedback received from states and using information obtained from other sources. "As per Second Advance Estimates for 2016-17, total foodgrain production in the country is estimated at 271.98 million tonnes, which is higher by 6.94 million tonnes than the previous record production of 265.04 million tonnes achieved during 2013-14," an official statement said.

"The current year's production is also higher by 14.97 million tonnes than the previous five years' (2011-12 to 2015-16) average production of foodgrain. The current year's production is significantly higher by 20.41 million tonnes than last year's food grain production." The rice production is estimated at 108.86 million tonnes, which is higher by 2.21 million tonnes.