Despite odds, grain produce to be higher

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 15

India’s foodgrain production during the 2015-16 crop year (July to June) will be higher than the overall production during the preceding crop year 2014-15 in spite of adversities suffered by the sector throughout the year.

The second advance estimates of the country’s foodgrain production released by the Agriculture Ministry today pegged the overall foodgrain production at 253.16 million tonnes (MT), higher than the overall production registered in 2014-15 — a bad monsoon year.

The higher production is largely on the back of a better output of winter crops (Rabi) — mainly wheat and pulses — in spite of high temperatures, low precipitation and low reservoir levels. The better output during Rabi is expected to offset the deficit recorded during Kharif — the summer season — because of a consecutive bad monsoon season.

Production of rice, cotton and sugarcane stands affected with all the commodities estimated to be lower than last year, according to the agriculture ministry.

However, wheat production is expected to rise by 8.4 per cent this year, going up to 93.8 MT in 2015-16 from 86.5 MT a year earlier — the lowest since 2009-10.

Meanwhile, the government has fixed the foodgrain procurement targets for the 2016-17 marketing year. For wheat, the procurement target is 30 million tonnes (MT) as against 28.08 MT in the current year. Of the total, Punjab’s target is 11 MT, followed by Haryana 6.5 MT, Madhya Pradesh 6.8 MT, Uttar Pradesh 3 MT and Rajasthan 1.8 MT.