BackFoodgrain output to fall 5% to 251 mt in 2014-15
Govt ready with contingency plan to overcome poor monsoon
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New Delhi: India’s foodgrain production is estimated to decline by 5.25% to 251.12 million tonnes (mt) in the 2014-15 crop year due to a poor monsoon and unseasonal rain in the past two months.
The country registered record foodgrain production of 265.04 million tonnes in 2013-14 crop year (July-June).
Crops like Wheat, rice, coarse cereals and pulses are part of foodgrain basket.
Releasing the third advance estimates for 2014-15, the agriculture ministry on Wednesday said that the production of most crops fell because of deficient monsoon rainfall in 2014 and unseasonal rains and hailstorms in March-April that affected the kharif (summer) and rabi (winter) crops.
Rice production is estimated to have fallen to 102.54 mt in 2014-15 against the record output of 106.65 mt in the previous year.
Wheat output is estimated to have declined to 90.78 mt in 2014-15 from a record 95.85 mt in the previous year.
The ministry has revised down the production of foodgrain as well as that of rice and wheat from earlier estimates released on 18 February this year.
Foodgrain output was then pegged at 257.07 mt; rice at 103.04 mt and wheat at 95.76 mt.
Coarse cereals output is estimated at 40.42 mt, down by 2.87 mt from the previous year, while pulses production is likely to have dipped by 1.87 mt to 17.38 mt.
“It may be noted that production of the kharif crops during 2014-15 suffered due to the bad monsoon. Unseasonal rains and hailstorms during February-March 2015 had significant impact on production of rabi crops. As a result of setback in kharif as well as rabi seasons, the production of most of the crops has declined during 2014-15," the agriculture ministry said in a statement.
India received 12% deficient rainfall during the southwest monsoon in 2014.
Separately, the government said on Wednesday it had put in place a contingency plan for 580 districts to tackle any situation arising out of a below-normal monsoon this year. The weather office has predicted sub-par monsoon rainfall for a second consecutive year in 2015.
“We are ready with the contingency plan for 580 districts," said Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, minister of state for agriculture, in New Delhi on Wednesday.
The centre is also planning to come out with a new crop insurance policy for farmers, he said.
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