RIO DE JANEIRO, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Brazil, a leading global breadbasket, estimates a record 261.6 million tons in agricultural production in 2022 of cereals, legumes and oilseeds, the state-run Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) said in a report Thursday.

The estimate points to a 3.3 percent increase over 2021, when output reached 253.2 million tons, said IBGE.

The South American country will allocate 71.2 million hectares to planting those crops this year, or 3.9 percent more than the area harvested in 2021.

Rice, corn and soybeans, Brazil's top three agricultural products, will represent 92.7 percent of projected output in 2022 and 87.7 percent of the cultivated land.

Corn production is estimated to increase this year by 23.9 percent compared to 2021, reaching 108.7 million tons.

Soybean production, however, will drop 8.8 percent compared to last year, reaching 123 million tons, while rice production will decrease by 7.9 percent to reach 10.7 million tons.

According to the IBGE, climatic factors, such as drought in parts of the country, have dampened the harvest forecast for the year compared to last month's estimate, which was 3.8 percent higher.

Other products expected to see drops in output this year are cocoa (286.7 million tons or 7.7 percent less than in 2021), potato (3.7 million tons or 10.7 percent less), and grapes (1.6 million tons or 4.1 percent less).