“This is the fourth highest quantity of annual foodgrain production in the country,” the survey said. The bumper harvest, said the survey came despite deficiency of 12 percent in the monsoon rainfall during the year. “The loss in production has been restricted to just around 3 percent over the previous year and has exceeded the average production during the last five years by 8.15 million tonnes,” the survey showed.
The survey which was tabled in the parliament a day ahead of the union budget showed that as compared to last year’s production of 265.57 million tonnes, current year’s production of foodgrains is lower by 8.5 million tonnes. “This decline has occurred on account of lower production of rice, coarse cereals and pulses due to erratic rainfall conditions during the monsoon season of 2014,” the survey said.
The survey cited the fourth advance estimates for 2013-14 which shows an increase of 1.3 percent in the production of rice at 106.5 million tonnes. Wheat production during the period is likely to be 95.9 million tonnes with an increase of 2.6 percent over the previous year, the survey said.
Pulses production is estimated at 19.3 million tonnes which shows an increase of 5.3 percent. Oil seeds production is expected to increase by 6.4 percent at 32.9 million tonnes. “Within oilseeds, the groundnut production of 9.7 million tonnes show a commendable increase of 105.8 percent over the previous year,” the survey showed.
Among the states Punjab has shown the highest productivity of rice for the year 2013-14 at 3,952 kg per hectare, wheat at 5,017 kg per ha. While, Gujarat showed the maximum productivity of groundnut at 2,668 kg/ha and West Bengal of sugarcane at 114,273 kg/ha.
The survey stated that to improve resilience of the agricultural sector and bolster food security–including availability and affordable access, the strategy for agriculture has to focus on improving yield and productivity.
The report card on the state of the country’s economy added that according to the new series of national income the share of agriculture and allied sectors in total gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated at 18 percent in 2013-14. (IANS)