Government targets 114 MT wheat output in 2023-24
The government on Tuesday set a higher wheat production target of 114 million tonne (MT) for the 2023-24 rabi season against an estimated output of 112.74 MT in the year-ago period.
The government is aiming to bring around 60% of the total wheat area of 30 million hectare (MH) under climate-resistant varieties to deal with extreme climatic conditions such as the heat wave and rain just prior to harvesting in the last two years.
“There are certain changes in climate change, which are affecting agriculture. Our strategy is climate resilient seeds,” Manor Ahuja, secretary, department of agriculture and farmers welfare, said at the national conference for chalking out strategies for the rabi season.
The higher wheat production target is expected because of a forecast of sufficient rainfall till the third week of October across several parts of the country, which is expected to boost soil moisture level. Sowing of rabi crops — wheat, pulses and oilseeds — is likely to commence in the latter part of next month, after harvesting of kharif crops.
Because of lower output, the Food Corporation of India (FCI)’s wheat procurement had dropped by 130% to 18.79 MT in 2022-23 marketing season on year. In the current year, FCI could purchase only 26.2 MT of the grain from the farmers.
The government has set marginally higher foodgrain production targets of 332 MT for the 2023-24 crop year (July-June), of which rabi season will contribute 161.2 MT.
The government is aiming to increase production of pulses such as chana (gram) and oilseeds, mainly mustard, in the coming season to reduce import dependency of these crops.
Foodgrain production was estimated at 330.5 MT estimated in the 2022-23 crop year.
In case of chana, which has a share of 50% in the country’s total pulses production of 27.5 MT in 2022-23 crop year, the target of a production of 13.65 MT of the pulses variety has been set for 2023-24 crop year.
For mustard, the production target of 13.1 MT has been set for 2023-24 crop against an output of 12.49 MT in 2022-23. The official said the focus will be to reduce the country’s import dependency on edible oil from current level of 56% to 36% in next 5 years.
On the fluctuation in the monsoon rains pattern, Ahuja said “we have seen how rainfall patterns are changing. We had a deficit in June, a surplus in July, dry in August and again excess rainfall in September. As a result, there is a 5% rainfall deficit in the country”.
He said there is also a severe deficit in water reservoirs in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Kerala and Karnataka compared to the 10-year average.
Recommended for you
