Record kharif output likely

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 29. The kharif production is expected to be an all time record of 105.6 million tonnes this year, which will be 2.5 million tonnes more than last year. So far the highest output has been 104.8 million tonnes achieved during 1999-2000. The target for rabi wheat season have been set at 107.87 million tonnes and oilseeds at 11.5 million tonnes.

This assessment was made on Friday at the National Conference on Agriculture for rabi campaign attended by Agriculture Commissioners from all States and Union Territories. The Union Agriculture Minister, Mr. Ajit Singh, congratulated the farming community and the State Governments for achieving record kharif. He urged farmers to achieve the targetted 4 per cent growth rate during the 10th five-year plan.

The participants agreed that the estimate of 105.6 million tonnes furnished by States and based on the feedback received from Space Application Centre in Ahmedabad, may be conservative. The actual production may be higher when the results of the crop cutting experiments were available in December. During the year, kharif rice output is expected to be 76.4 million tonnes over 74.4 million tonnes last year. The likely production of maize is expected to cross the 10 million tonne mark for the first time. Last year it was 9.9 million tonnes.

Bajra output is expected to be 7.5 million tonnes, about 1.1 million tonnes more than last year.

The overall production of coarse cereals is estimated to be around 23.9 million tonnes, which is slight lower than 24 million tonnes last year, owing to lower output by Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. However, the production of kharif pulses is expected to be 5.3 million tonnes, which is expected to be higher by 0.6 million tonnes than last year. Oilseeds production is likely to be 12.5 million tonnes, as against 11.6 million tonnes last year and cotton output is estimated to be 12.5 million bales, about 33 per cent higher than last year. Sugarcane production might drop to 280 million tonnes, against 300 million tonnes last year.

The Conference reviewed the prospects of kharif crop production for 2001. Rainfall was deficient by about 8 per cent. The redeeming feature was that Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, which suffered acute moisture stress and drought- like situation last year, received good rainfall this year. States were asked to adopt strategy for diversification to high value crops like fruits and vegetables and to oilseeds and pulses in which the country is deficient and requires large imports.

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