Thanks to about 3.8 million tonnes (or 3 per cent) additional land brought under cultivation, the foodgrains harvest in the rabi season, at its fag end now, is likely to top last year’s 109.9 million tonnes. Indications are that it may be close to, or exceed, the highest ever rabi production of 110.7 million tonnes way back in 1998-99.
The optimism on this front emerged at the meeting of state-level officials of agriculture departments held here on March 20-21 to review the rabi prospects and prepare for the next kharif season.
| BUMPER HARVEST Area under rabi crops (million hectares) | |||
| Crops | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | Change |
| Wheat | 28.15 | 27.79 | 0.36 |
| Rice | 4.38 | 4.45 | 0.07 |
| Sorghum | 4.36 | 4.88 | 0.52 |
| Maize | 1.12 | 1.22 | 0.1 |
| Total cereals | 38.63 | 39.18 | 0.54 |
| Gram | 7.54 | 8.58 | 1.03 |
| Total pulses | 12.14 | 14.29 | 2.15 |
| Rapeseed-mustard | 5.82 | 6.62 | 0.79 |
| Groundnut | 0.97 | 0.98 | 0.01 |
| Total oilseeds | 8.74 | 9.82 | 1.08 |
| All crops | 63.29 | 59.52 | 3.77 |
| Source: Agriculture Ministry | |||
A presentation made at this meet by Agriculture Commissioner NB Singh indicated that the total coverage under rabi crops in the current season stood at 63.29 million hectares, some 3.77 million hectares more than 59.52 million hectares in the last season.
Much of the increase in acreage was accounted for by pulses (up 23 per cent), oilseeds (up 7 per cent) and coarse cereals (up 9 per cent). The area under wheat, the main rabi staple cereal, was down marginally by about 355,000 hectares, or 1 per cent, from last year’s 28.15 million hectares to 27.8 million hectares this year.
Singh expressed the hope of significant gains in the output of rabi pulses (notably gram) and oilseeds (chiefly rapeseed-mustard), the two commodity groups in which the country’s import dependence is in excess of 40 per cent.
Last year, the output of rabi pulses was pegged by the agriculture ministry at 8.36 million tonnes and that of rabi oilseeds at 9.04 million tonnes. This year, the output of rabi pulses is likely to exceed 9.4 million tonnes and that of rabi oilseeds to top 9.6 million tonnes.
The wheat harvest is anticipated to be close to last year’s record of 78.5 million tonnes, despite the marginal shrinkage in area. Notably, the wheat acreage in the key surplus producing states of Punjab and Haryana has remained more or less unchanged at last year’s level. The decline in wheat area is mostly in Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
However, wheat acreage has expanded by about 329,000 hectares in Uttar Pradesh, largely due to diversion of land from sugarcane to wheat. Uttar Pradesh is the largest wheat producing state, though its contribution to the Central grain pool is relatively much smaller compared with that of Punjab and Haryana.
What has helped the rabi crops, apart from area expansion, is the favourable temperature almost throughout the crop growing season and absence of any major pest or disease epidemic in most parts of the country.
“The temperature between January and March, though slightly higher than normal, has been within the range of optimum limits,” Singh had said in his presentation at the meet.
