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Record rice production expected

The country is expecting a record rice production of 83.5 million tonnes while there is a setback in pulses and coarse cereals with the overall food production touching 195 million tonnes.

According to the national conference on agriculture for kharif production which took stock of the prospects of crop production for the current year, the production is expected to register a marginal decline of four million tonnes over the peak production of 1996-97.

The conference, which was attended by the top officials of the Centre and state agriculture ministries and the Planning Commission, has estimated the pulses production at 13 million tonnes and coarse cereals at 31.2 million tonnes.

The wheat production is estimated to be at 66.5 million tonnes, down by three million tonnes from the 1996-97 level.

The conference, which concluded in New Delhi yesterday, expected a major setback to cotton production which had slumped to 11.4 million bales from 14.3 million bales last year. The lower production was attributed to widespread incidents of pest attacks in the major cotton producing states of Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Adverse agro-climatic conditions had affected the production of commercial crops. The production of nine major oil seeds for the year was expected to be about 24 million tonnes compared to 25 million tonnes last year.

However, the redeeming feature was that soyabean registered a record production of 6.5 million tonnes but the sugarcane production has come down to 260 million tonnes, less by 17 million tonnes. This decline is attributed as 'cyclical fluctuation'.

The conference noted that the overall rainfall during monsoon was above normal though delayed in some parts of the country, resulting in a setback to the production of coarse seeds and oil seeds, particularly in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

The abnormality in the post-monsoon season on account of intermittent rains and prolonged cloudy weather in November and December delayed wheat sowing and other rabi crops. In some parts, farmers had to resort to resowing.

Despite unfavourable agro-climatic conditions, foodgrains had responded well, demonstrating resilience of Indian agriculture, the conference felt.

Inaugurating the conference, Agriculture Secretary Kamal Pande said the objective of doubling the agriculture production in the next decade was a daunting task. The country should shift its mindset from producing food for security to becoming a major player in the global food market, he said.

He said such a transformation in the management of agricultural sector would require a growth of seven per cent for the next decade from the modest growth of 3.5 per cent. The support sectors like seed, fertiliser, infrastructure and credit, storage, market and transportation have to be synchronised with the national endeavour.

To meet the challenge, the role of central and state governments needs to be examined. States must work together to avoid overlapping and should muster all their resources for the development of agriculture with the Centre supplementing the effort.

Credit should continue to be progressively institutionalised to aid production and productivity. Immediate and major steps are needed for revamping co-operative credit structure, he said.

UNI