Abstract |
The year 1979 was a good one for wheat production in many developing countries. India and Pakistan registered new records of 34.7 and just under 10.0 million tons, respectively. Turkey produced more than 16 million tons, well in excess of its domestic needs. In Argentina, semidwarfs continued to spread-and were it not for flooding near the harvest period, production records would have been set there. In Bangladesh, the area grown in wheat moved from a 1977-78 level of 500,000 acres to 662,500 acres in the 1978-79 season. This demonstrates a rapid advance. It may be expected that Bangladesh will continue this rapid increase, since wheat is a very stable winter crop. In other parts of the world, wheat continued to hold its place as the world's number-one cereal. For the first time it was nearly equalled in total production by maize. (It must be remembered, however, that wheat ranks well ahead in the developing countries, since a large proportion of maize production takes place in developed countries.) |