Overview of Indian Wheat Economy: Production, Procurement, and Marketed Surplus

Abstract

Wheat is the largest cereal crop in the world, occupying slightly over 16% of the total cultivated acreage, whereas rice, the second important crop, accounts for over 11% of the cultivated acreage. Globally, India is the second largest producer of wheat (about 92 million tonnes) next only to China (126 million tonnes) with the highest area (30.6 million ha) under wheat among all the wheat-producing countries in the world. Wheat production, acreage, and yield by major producers of the world are presented in Table 4.1. India’s share in global production was about 12.7% during TE2014–15, while China, the largest producer, accounted for about 17.4% of global production. Currently, the world average wheat yield is around 3.27 t/ha but there is considerable variation between countries.