Gujarat projects bumper crops in 2007-08

Gujarat expects a bumper crops in 2007-08. The state government's agriculture projections for 2007-08 released by the Department of Agriculture and Co-operation states that the state will have an estimated agriculture production of 326.17 lakh metric tonne.

This includes foodgrains, oil seeds, cotton tobacco, sugarcane fruits, vegetables and spices.

The projected figures for the year 2007-08 released by the government states that the state will produce a total of 64.72 lakh MT of foodgrain which includes includes 28.54 lakh MT in Kharif and 36.18 lakh MT in Rabi-summer.

The state is likely to produce 42.14 lakh MT of oilseeds including 32.70 lakh MT in Kharif and 9.44 lakh MT in Rabi. The government expects that the state will produce 82.71 lakh bales of cotton, 56.74 lakh MT of fruits, 12.50 lakh MT of sugarcane, 60.66 lakh MT of vegetables and 5.43 lakh MT of spices.

The projections for the year also include 1.26 lakh MT of tobacco. In all the state will have an estimated agriculture production of 326.17 lakh metric tonne during 2007-08.

In comparison to 2006-07 agricultural production foodgrains, oilseeds crops are to likely to perform better while cotton, tobacco and sugarcane production is likely to take a dip in 2007-08.

In 2006-07 the foodgrain production was 61.10 lakh MT, oilseeds stood at only 28.46 lakh MT, however, cotton production was 87.87 lakh bales while tobacco and sugarcane production was 1.98 lakh MT and 15.63 lakh MT respectively.

The projections for 2007-08 state that the total cultivation area for food grain will be 41.65 lakh hectares including Kharif and Rabi, while the area under cultivation for oilseeds will be 31.92 lakh hectares, cotton area will be 23 lakh hectares, total tobacco area is projected to be 74,000 hectares, while sugarcane area is 1.70 lakh hectares.

Fruit cultivation area is estimated at 3.31 hectares and vegetables area is projected to be 3.83 lakh hectares. The total cultivation area of spices in the state will be 4.31 lakh hectares.

The government claims that the state's production growth rate in foodgrain is likely to be 14 per cent and productivity growth rate will be 8.3 per cent in 2007-08 in comparison with the average growth of 10th Five Year Plan. The state government projects a 17 per cent growth rate in oilseeds production and 8.4 per cent growth rate in its productivity. While, in cotton crop the state government aims at productivity growth of 30.2 per cent.

The state government says that this growth will be achieved through an increase in the area under cultivation, increase the productivity by seed replacement by bringing more area under irrigation, introduction of new agricultural technologies and awareness programmes.