The Hindu Business Line : Foodgrain output put at 211.17 mt

THE Agriculture Ministry has estimated the country's foodgrain production to have touched an all-time high of 211.17 million tonnes (mt) during 2001-02. This is as against the level of 195.92 mt recorded during 2000-01.

According to the `third advance estimates', released after the conclusion of the National Conference on Agriculture for Kharif Campaign 2002 here on Friday, the production of rice has hit a record 90.75 mt in 2001-02, as against 84.87 mt in 2000-01. This includes 78.32 mt (73.34 mt) from the main kharif crop and 12.43 mt (11.53 mt) from the winter rabi crop.

Production of wheat, coarse cereals and pulses, too, have been higher in 2001-02 at 73.53 mt (68.76 mt), 33.10 mt (31.62 mt) and 13.79 mt (10.67 mt), respectively.

Within coarse cereals, the production of maize has been estimated at a record 13.18 mt, while being 7.07 mt for bajra. Among pulses, the output has been higher for both kharif (5.50 mt in 2001-02 versus 4.47 mt in 2000-01) as well as rabi pulses (8.29 mt versus 6.20 mt).

The total production of kharif foodgrains in 2001-02 has been 109.51 mt (103.36 mt), while amounting to 101.66 mt for rabi foodgrains (92.56 mt).

In commercial crops, the country's oilseeds production is estimated to have recovered to 21.16 mt in 2001-02, from 18.40 mt the previous year. While Kharif oilseeds production has risen from 11.81 mt to 13.04 mt that of rabi oilseeds has gone up from 6.59 mt to 8.12 mt.

Rape-seed mustard production, at 5.34 mt, is expected to be higher by 1.13 mt compared to that in 2000-01.

Sugarcane production for 2001-02 has been assessed at 289.41 mt, down from the previous year's 299.21 mt. Cotton output has recovered from 9.65 million bales (of 170 kg each) to 11.30 million bales, while that of jute & mesta has gone up marginally from 10.47 mt to 10.68 mt (mainly due to jute, which has increased from 9.25 mt to 9.37 mt).

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