The Indian Agricultural Research Institute has introduced a new high-yielding wheat seed variant, HD 3386, which is resistant to yellow and leaf rust diseases commonly found in the northwest region of India.
IARI has developed a new wheat seed variety with a productivity of 25 quintal/acre, which is higher than the currently used seed (productivity of 22 quintal/acre) that was sown in around 25% of the total wheat sown area of 34 million hectare in the country last season.
New wheat seed variant to be available on large scale in 2 years. Most wheat seeds are developed by government institutions. Wheat output for 2023-24 crop year may exceed 112 MT due to record sown area, longer winter season, and no disease outbreak, Wheat varieties have become more climate-resilient with 90% of current varieties being heat tolerant. In the last five years, 60% of new varieties have been introduced. The wheat output in 2023-24 is projected to increase by 3% to 105.79 MT according to a crop survey.
Wheat is a key winter crop grown in several states of India. The government purchases wheat from farmers under the minimum support price (MSP) operations to supply free grain and build up a buffer.
