Centre Eyes Record Foodgrain Target With Forecast Of Normal Monsoon
The Government of India has set an ambitious target for foodgrain output after a normal monsoon was forecast by weather officials recently.
The Union Ministry of Agriculture has set a record target of 283.7 million tonnes in the crop year beginning July, with 140.20 million tonnes targeted for the kharif (summer-sown) crop, on expectation of normal rains during the June-September monsoon season.
“The weather office forecast of normal monsoon this year is good news for kharif planting and farmers,” Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh was quoted as saying in a report in the Economic Times. He added the government has been actively working on fixing minimum support price (MSP) at 1.5 times above the cost of production.
The Minister reportedly said the government aims to make agriculture policy and programmes “income-oriented” rather than “production-oriented”. He also urged the states to implement central programmes like micro-irrigation scheme, provide quality seed according to soil quality, invest in cold chains and promote food processing. State governments should focus on implementation of National Agricultural Markets and e-NAM along with introduction of the crop insurance scheme to mitigate the risk of crop loss, Singh said.
At the two-day national conference on planting strategy for the upcoming kharif season, agriculture commissioner SK Malhotra announced, “The tentative target of foodgrain production for 2018–19 is 283.7 million tonne. For kharif, we have kept a target of 140.20 million tonne.”
The second advance estimate released by the Agriculture ministry states that foodgrain production would touch a record 277.49 million tonnes in the 2017–18 crop year (July-June).
The government has also prepared contingency plans for 623 districts in 28 states to help farmers deal with lower output in the event of scanty rains, or delay in the onset of the monsoon, the agriculture commissioner said.
“There is ample availability of seeds for the kharif crops. There is only a shortage in soya bean seeds — around 93,170 quintal less than the required 29.09 lakh quintal. We are working to ensure that this gap is filled before sowing begins,” said Malhotra, adding that there was ample fertilisers — urea, diammounium phosphate (DAP), muriate of potash (MOP) and nitrogen, phosphorous, and potash (NPK) for this planting season.
The Agriculture minister has also reportedly asked officials to encourage farmers to participate in the Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, during which every block would organise Kisan Kalyan Karyashala on May 2. “Agriculture officers and scientists will discuss ways to increase income through adoption of new technology, and progressive farmers will also narrate their success stories,” he said.
The monsoon this year is expected to be 97% of the long term average, the India Meteorological Department said earlier this month.
