New Delhi, April 27 -- The agriculture ministry on Sunday asserted that India's wheat production for 2025-26 crop year remains "stable and resilient despite localised damage" caused by unseasonal rainfall and hailstorms, even as an industry body pegged output significantly below the government's earlier forecast. The Roller Flour Millers' Federation of India (RFFI) on April 24 projected wheat output at 110.65 million tonnes for the 2025-26 crop year (July-June), marginally higher than 109.63 million tonnes produced in 2024-25, after factoring in recent weather damage. The projection is well short of the ministry's pre-weather estimate of 120.21 million tonnes, which itself was higher than 117.94 million tonnes recorded in the previous year. Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra sought to bridge the gap between the two estimates. "While the federation has estimated wheat production of 110 million tonnes, the figure given by the agriculture ministry prior to the rainfall is 120 million tonnes. The reality will be somewhere between 110 and 120 million tonnes," he had said. In a statement, the ministry described the current wheat season as "mixed but resilient," shaped by both climatic adversities and strong adaptive measures undertaken by farmers. Wheat was sown on an estimated area of 33.4 million hectares this season, with no incidence of insect pests or diseases reported. Early and timely sowing led to an increase in acreage over the previous year....