The Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar, today said that wheat production is expected to be a record 88.31 million tonnes in the 2011-12 crop year (July-June) against 86.87 mt in the previous year.
“I am not all worried about wheat production because the situation is good. Whatever the assessment we have made on production, there will be improvement. I don’t expect any problem,” he said.
Noting that there is no worry about wheat production getting affected due to yellow rust disease in some states like Punjab and Haryana, Mr Pawar said the disease is not that serious that will affect yields.
But he expressed concern over domestic production of pulses trailing behind the increasing demand, saying a lot of work needs to be done to bridge the supply gap.
“Whether it is foodgrains or hoticulture produce, we are doing quite well. Only there are two areas, where we have to work more. One is pulses production,” Mr Pawar told reporters on the sidelines of an event here.
This year, domestic pulses output is expected to reach 16.5-17 million tonnes. “But, still there will be a small gap and will probably be met through imports,” he said.
Till 2009-10, the country’s production of pulses remained at a level of 14 mt against the annual demand of about 18 mt. However in 2010-11, the domestic output improved to 18.24 mt, he added.
Foodgrains output
The Minister said that the country’s total foodgrains production is expected to touch a record 250 mt this year due to policy initiatives adopted in the last two years especially in eastern states.
Food Security Bill
With the current level of production, the Minister said: “there will not be any problem in meeting the requirement of National Food Security Bill”, which aims to provide subsidised foodgrains to 63.5 per cent of the country’s population.
However, he stressed that there should be continuity in production of foodgrains at higher levels to sustain the implementation of the proposed Food Bill.
On sugar sector, Mr Pawar said that at current level of sugar production, exports are necessary to ensure good price to the farming community.
Sugar production in India, the world’s second biggest producer but the largest consumer, is pegged at 26 mt in the 2011-12 marketing year (October-September) against the annual demand of 22 mt.