Per-acre expenditure cost of wheat, rice should be reduced: Nitin Gadkari

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday that we need to reduce the per-acre expenditure cost to get better prices for our produce.

"In our country, the per-acre expenditure is more. So firstly, we need to reduce our per-acre expenditure cost," Gadkari said while addressing the Millionaire Farmer of India Awards 2023.

He said that wheat and rice production is good in our country by its prices have not increased in proportion to fertilizer and insecticide.

"Wheat and rice production is good in our country. But if you analyse the prices of wheat and rice in the last 15 years, you will see that the increase in prices of fertilizer and insecticide, cement and steel, is not proportionate to the increase in prices of rice and wheat," he said.

The Union Minister said that the reason for the lower price realisation of wheat and rice is due to their surplus production.

"Due to factors of demand and supply, due to surplus production, our prices are not increasing though prices of fertilizer, insecticides and seeds are increasing," he said.

As per Final Estimates, the estimated production of rice during 2022-23 is 1357.55 lakh tonnes. It is higher by 62.84 lakh tonnes than the previous year's Rice production of 1294.71 lakh tonnes and by 153.65 lakh tonnes than the last five years' average production of 1203.90 lakh tonnes.

Production of Wheat during 2022-23 is estimated at a record 1105.54 lakh tonnes. It is higher by 28.12 lakh tonnes than the previous year's wheat production of 1077.42 lakh tonnes and by 48.23 lakh tonnes than the average wheat production of 1057.31 lakh tonnes.

The Millionaire Farmers of India Awards 2023 has been organised by Krishi Jagran, known for its innovative initiatives in India's farming and agriculture industry.