The Hindu Business Line : Wheat harvest may touch 72 mt: Pawar

Ahmedabad March 25 Dispelling doubts, the Union Agriculture and Food and Civil Supplies Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar, has said the country is set to harvest about 72 million tonnes of wheat this year compared to 68 mt last year.

"This year, 2007, may be particularly good. Our projections for rice are good. We would have 2.50 lakh tonnes of sugar as against our requirement of 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes. But we still have a long way to go on the food security front," he told a national seminar on Nutrition and fortification 2007, organised jointly by the Gujarat Government and the Gujarat Roller Flour Millers Association, at Nirma University here.

Mr Pawar said the shortage of pulses and oilseeds since the last couple of years had forced the Government to think of importing these commodities. The area under groundnut in Gujarat has been reduced and that of cotton increased. Similar changed crop patterns in other States have created a shortage of edible oilseeds.

Lauding the efforts made by the State Governments in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, among others, Mr Pawar stressed upon the urgent need to fortify food grains and other articles with micronutrients for distribution to those below the poverty line through the public distribution system.

Later, he inaugurated the second unit of the Banas Dairy's Rs 110-crore skimmed milk powder plant at Palanpur in Banaskantha district..