The Hindu Business Line : AP lowers foodgrains target to 180 lakh tonnes

Hyderabad May 21 The Andhra Pradesh Government has lowered its foodgrains target for 2007-08 and pegged it at 180 lakh tonnes (lt). In the previous year against a target of 205 lt, the actual production was just 160 lt.

During 2007-08, the total cropped area for various foodgrains was estimated to be at 72.76 lakh hectares as against 81.08 lakh hectares in 2006-07.

Speaking on the Crop Action Plan for 2007-08 that was released on Sunday by the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Mr N. Raghuveera Reddy, Minister for Agriculture, said the target for kharif season was put at 108.45 lt, while for rabi season, the target was 71.53 lt.

The target for oilseeds production was put at 24 lt.

Despite a lower target when compared to last year, the Government has decided to take measures to increase productivity of important crops. With regard to paddy, the Government estimated that average productivity would go up to 3,283 kg/hectares as against 2,973 kg/ha.

While the productivity of wheat was expected to grow to 957 kg/ha (696 kg/ha), productivity of maize would go up to 4,548 kg/ha (3,481 kg/ha).

Stating that the Government would focus on increasing productivity of various crops, he said productivity of pulses were almost stagnant in the last five decades.

Chaitanya yatras

With a view to reaching out to farmers, the State had begun `rythu chaitanya yatras' on Sunday as the farmers prepared for the kharif season. "Officials from relevant departments would visit almost all the 60,000 habitations in the State, informing the farmers on various aspects related to farming," Mr Raghuveera Reddy.

The Government was betting big on `Adarsha rythus' (Model Farmers) this year. It had picked 25,000 such Model Farmers who were supposed to liaise with the officials and bring to their notice problems or issues faced by the farmers in their respective habitations.

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