New Delhi — India is heading for its largest wheat harvest on record in 2021-22 (April-March) amid recently brightened prospects for higher exports in the current marketing season that ends on March 31.

India’s 2020-21 wheat harvest is expected to hit a record 107.6 million mt, and a record planting and favorable weather conditions have fueled the expectation of a bumper wheat harvest in 2021, the US Department of Agriculture’s India attaché said Feb. 11 in its Grain and Feed report. The agency did not provide exact production numbers for the 2021-22 season.

A 2020-21 rabi crop report from India’s Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare estimates the country’s 2021 wheat crop planting area at a new record of 34.5 million hectares, 1 million hectares larger than the previous year.

“Improved soil moisture and irrigation water availability due to an excellent 2020 monsoon, coupled with the Indian government’s timely announcement of a higher [minimum support price] encouraged farmers to increase wheat planting,” the attaché said.

On the weather front, India’s wheat crop has benefited from relatively low temperatures and occasional rains over the past two months.

“Field sources report that the standing wheat crop is progressing well under adequate soil moisture and weather conditions throughout the wheat growing region,” the agency added.

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February 12, 2021 at 10:02AM