Chandigarh, June 14 (IANS) Haryana has achieved a record wheat production of 1.02 billion tonnes this season, an agriculture department spokesman said Saturday.

The central and state government agencies bought over 5 million tonnes of wheat this year, compared to 3.35 million tonnes procured last year.

The spokesman said the record production this year was achieved due to new cultivation technologies adopted by the state's farmers. He said this led to increased production of wheat this season.

He added that the farmers sowed wheat in a record area of 2.47 million hectares compared to 2.37 million hectares last year.

The official claimed that the procurement by government agencies this year was 50 percent more than the total procurement of last year.