Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Thursday said the country’s foodgrains production, pegged at 114.63 million tonnes in the kharif season of 2010-11, looks “comfortable”, thanks to widespread rains across the country.

“It (production of foodgrains) looks comfortable. Area under crops such as paddy, pulses, oilseeds, cotton and sugarcane is more than last year and the situation is good,” Pawar told reporters in New Delhi.

The minister made the observation immediately after the Agriculture Ministry released the first advance estimates on production of foodgrains in the kharif season of the 2010-11.

According to the official release, the country is estimated to harvest a total of 114.63 million tonnes of foodgrains in the 2010-11 kharif season, up from 103.84 million tonnes in the same season of the last crop year.

Rice production is estimated to rise by 6 per cent to 80.41 million tonnes during the 2010-11 kharif from 75.91 million tonnes in the same season last year. However, this would still be lower than the record 84.91 million tonnes in the 2008-09 kharif season.

Pawar also said the monsoon will start withdrawing in a week’s time.

Sugarcane production is estimated to increase to 324 million tonnes this year, against 277 million tonnes last year — a staggering 16 per cent rise that is expected to boost sugar production.