Drought spoils farm sector's dream run
diesel, seeds, fodder and lower interest rate on crop loan for drought-hit areas.
However, the Kharif crops such as paddy, pulses and coarse cereals got affected. Foodgrains production is estimated to drop by 10 per cent in Kharif season.
"We started the year on a good note with record output that instilled sense of optimism in the sector. However, weak monsoon during kharif sowing affected crops. In spite of poor rains, we reasonably managed well. We are fine now and geared up to make up losses during the rabi season," Agriculture Secretary Ashish Bahuguna said.
Notwithstanding crop losses in Kharif (summer crops), the government expects the foodgrains production in the 2012-13 crop year (July-June) to reach 250 million tonnes, which would still be the second best performance of the sector.
Keeping this in mind, the government has decided to continue export of rice and wheat even next year. The year saw shipments of over 10 million tonnes of rice and wheat but Iran's concern about quality of Indian wheat, which remained in news throughout the year, could not be resolved.
"Initially, we were not sure if our wheat will be accepted. We were wrong, the quality of our wheat is being recognised and we are getting good prices," Food Secretary Sudhir Kumar said.
If the country is able to produce 250 million tonnes next year, the performance of the agriculture sector would be noteworthy considering the problems faced by farmers in forms of poor monsoon this year and rise in cost
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