With ambitious food produce target, government sheds rain fears

NEW DELHI: Allaying fears of a poor kharif (summer sown) harvest due to deficit rainfall in many districts and floods in several others, the Centre on Tuesday set an ambitious target of overall foodgrain production for the 2017-18 crop year (July-June) based on its contingency measures including use of quality seeds and other appropriate inputs for rabi (winter-sown) crops.

The target was fixed by the agriculture ministry which put the foodgrain production figure for 2017-18 at 274.55 million tonnes (MT) just marginally less than the estimated record production (275.68 MT) in 2016-17.

The figures signal that the Centre expects kharif production in the current year will not be as bad as was expected two-three weeks ago due to deficit rainfall in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and floods in Bihar, Assam and Odisha.“We are expecting better rabi production due to contingency measures as per our strategies for the upcoming season, “ said Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh.

He said the availability of quality seeds and use of appropriate inputs as per Soil Health Cards would help in increasing productivity and overall foodgrain production. Keeping in mind variability of rainfall during June-September period, the ministry has planned a number of contingency measures for the rabi season. It includes region specific crop planning on the basis of water availability, pre-positioning of inputs like seeds, fertilisers and micro-nutrients, moisture conservation practices, judicious use of irrigation water and focus on rice fallow area for sowing of pulses and oilseeds. Less monsoon rainfall leads to lower moisture content in soil and water shortage in reservoirs--the two key factors which guide sowing in rabi season. Better strategy of crop selection and other measures can, however, minimise the impact of deficit rainfall on crops.

“We have achieved record production of 275.68 MT in 2016-17. We are going to repeat this performance this year,“ agriculture secretary S K Pattanayak said on the inaugural day of the conference. The secretary said the “so called deficit“ would be corrected in the coming days. Officials who participated in the session said though certain pockets had indeed faced deficit rainfall, the other areas experienced well distributed rainfall.