India to achieve all-time high wheat output this year: Pawar

India's wheat production is estimated to go an all-time high of 81.47 million tonnes while foodgrains will rise to 232.07 tonnes in the current year.

"The country will witness record production in wheat, pulses and cotton this crop year", Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar told reporters today announcing the second advance estimate for 2010-11 crop year (July-June).

This extraordinary feat is possible because of the hard efforts put in by the farming community, Pawar said lauding the cultivators. 

Wheat output in the previous year was also high at 80.8 million tonnes in the 2009-10 crop year. Foodgrain production had stood at  218.11 tonnes in the last crop year (2009-10).  

Production levels of pulses and cotton are also seen at all-time high of 16.51 million tonnes and 33.9 million bales, respectively. 

Rice output is also projected to surge to 94.01 million tonnes against 89.09 million tonnes during last crop year. 

Last year, rice output had declined by over 10 million tonnes due to drought, which had severely hit the country.