Crop production is the yields harvested per unit of harvested area for crop products.
Yield data are in general not recorded but calculated by dividing the production data by the data on area harvested. The actual yield that is harvested on a farm depends on factors such as a crop's genetic potential, the amount of sunlight, water and nutrients absorbed by the crop, the presence of weeds, and pests.
Crop production depends on the availability of arable land and is affected by yields, macroeconomic uncertainty, as well as consumption patterns; it also has a great incidence on agricultural commodities' prices. The importance of crop production is related to harvested areas, returns per hectare (yields) and quantities produced.
This indicator is measured in tonnes per hectare, in thousand hectares and thousand tonnes for the major crops of wheat, maize, rice and soybean.