INTERVIEW: P K BASU
Agriculture secretary
Drought in some parts not to threaten agriculture output
Banikinkar Pattanayak
Posted: Monday, Jan 16, 2012 at 0056 hrs IST
: As the government gears up for food security law, the need for grains has never been so crucial. Agriculture secretary P K Basu discusses prospects of farm production in 2011-12, his ministry's renewed thrust on horticulture crops — the prime drivers of food inflation for around two years — and strategies to bring down food inflation through higher productivity, in an interview with Banikinkar Pattanayak. Excerpts:
How do the winter crops look like? How convinced are you of yet another year of record foodgrain production?
Crop condition is excellent. Recent rainfall has been very beneficial for the crops and also for farmers as they save money on irrigation. Areas under wheat and paddy are up. Going by the position as of now, I am quite confident we will be achieving our targets of 102 million tonne for rice, 84 million tonne for wheat and 17 million tonne for pulses, and overall, 245
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