Wheat scenario at global level

Wheat is cultivated mainly in temperate and sub temperate regions of the world. Presently at global level, it occupies approximately 240 million hectare with production of approximately 600 million tones. China, India and U.S.A. are first ,second and third, respectively in wheat production. In addition to these, other countries are Canada, Argentina, Australia, Soviet Russia, France and Italy where wheat is cultivated at larger scale. Area, production and productivity of main wheat countries are given in Table 1.

Table 1.  Area, production and productivity of major wheat growing countries in the world (2005)

Country	Area (million ha)	Production (million tones)	Productivity  (q/ha)
Argentina	12.85	12.58	9.78
Canada	9.83	26.77	27.24
Pakistan	8.36	21.61	25.85
Turkey	9.30	21.00	22.58
Russion federation	24.62	47.69	19.37
India	26.49	72.00	27.18
China	44.79	97.45	21.75
United states of America	20.27	57.28	28.25
Australia	12.63	25.09	19.87
France	5.27	36.84	69.87

Source: www.faostat.fao.org

Wheat scenario in India

Wheat has distinct history in India. Considerable increase in wheat production during 60s led to green revolution in the country and makes the country self sufficient in food grain. This significant contribution of wheat ushered Green Revolution in India. Area, production and productivity of wheat in India during 1950-51 and 2007-08 is shown in Table 2.

Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajshthan, Bihar, Haryana, Maharashtra, and Gujarat are major wheat growing states in the country.  Though the maximum acreage and production of wheat is in Uttar Pradesh but Punjab gives highest average yield per hectare (4221 kg/ha) followed by Haryana (3901kg/ha). Area, production and productivity of main wheat growing states of India are given in Table 3.

Table  2  Area, production and productivity from 1950-51 to 2007- 08

Year	Area (million ha)	Production (million tones)	Productivity  (q/ha)
1950-51	9.8	6.5	6.63
1960-61	12.9	11.0	8.51
1967-68 *	14.9	16.5	11.03
1970-71	18.2	23.8	13.07
1980-81	22.3	36.3	16.30
1990-91	24.2	55.1	22.81
1999-2000 **	27.5	76.4	27.78
2000-2001	25.7	69.7	27.08
2002-03	25.2	69.3	27.47
2003-04	25.2	65.8	26.11
2004-05	26.6	72.0	27.07
2005-06	26.0	69.5	27.00
2006-07	27.9	75.8	27.00
2007-08	27.7	78.4	28.00

* Green revolution year   ** Maximum wheat production year

Table 3.  Area, production and productivity of major wheat growing states in India (2004-05)

State	Area  (million ha)	Production (million tones)	Productivity (q/ha)
East states
Bihar	2027.6	3263.4	16.09
West Bengal	400.1	841.5	21.03
North states
Punjab	3482.0	14698.0	42.21
Haryana	2322.0	9058.0	39.01
Uttar Pradesh	8999.8	22513.9	25.02
Himachal Pradesh	362.0	684.0	18.90
Jammu & Kashmir	248.4	474.4	19.10
Western & Central states
Gujrat	727.4	1805.5	24.82
Madhya Pradesh	4136.2	7176.6	17.35
Maharashtra	756	1016	13.44
Rajasthan	2010.1	5706.6	28.39
South states
Karnataka	242.0	179	7.40
All India	26382.9	68636.9	26.02

Source: Fertilizer Statistics of India, 2005-2006, FAI, New Delhi