The average annual growth in the country's foodgrains production was below 3% in the first four years of the 11th Five-Year Plan, Parliament was told today.
"During the first four years of the 11th Five-Year Plan period (FY08 to FY11), the average annual growth rate of foodgrains production in the country has been 2.90%," Minister of State for Agriculture Harish Rawat said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
The minister said production of foodgrains increased from 234.47 million tonne in FY09 to 241.56 million tonne in FY11.
However, production of foodgrains was lower in FY10, at 218.11 million tonne, due to a severe drought in most parts of the country in FY10 and a drought/deficient rainfall in some states, namely Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal in FY11, he added.
Giving crop-wise details, Rawat said major agricultural crops -- except rice, wheat, jowar, rapeseed & mustard, sunflower, jute & mesta and sugarcane -- recorded an average annual growth rate of more than 3.3% during the period.
Among the major crops, the highest average annual growth rate of 20.36% was recorded in production of groundnut, he added.
The average annual growth rate in rice output was 0.74%, while it was 3.21% for wheat, 6.67% for pulses, 2.41% for rapeseed & mustard, 10.46% for soyabean and 11.85% for cotton.
On the other hand, production of some crops registered a decline during the four-year period, with sunflower output declining by 13.69% per annum on average, jowar by 1.16% and sugarcane by 0.40%, the minister said.