While kharif rice output is expected to increase nearly 6% to 119.93 million tonnes from 113.25 million tonnes last year, tur production is expected to rise about 3% to 3.5 million tonnes from 3.4 million tonnes.
Moong production is expected to rise to 1.4 million tonnes from 1.2 million tonnes last year. However, urad production, another major kharif pulse, is expected to decline to 1.2 million tonnes this year from 1.6 million tonnes last year.
India faced shortages of tur and urad last year due to lower production, which lifted overall food inflation to 9.24% in September. Higher price of pulses forced the government to remove import restrictions and impose stock limits. A good produce this year is expected to help ease inflation.
Maize, another crop which the government is promoting for ethanol production, is expected to increase to 24.5 million tonnes this year from 22.2 million tonnes last year.