The earlier production was 31.97 lakh. Similar trend was also seen in production of pulses and oil seeds as the state produced 0.72 lakh tonnes of pulses and 2.03 lakh tonnes of oil seeds.

The area under summer rice had been increased to 2.30 lakh hectare from 1.75 lakh hectare during 1997-98. This is primarily attributed to the installation of shallow tubewell (STW) under Ariasp. With this the use of HYV seeds and consumption of fertilisers had also gone up by 50 per cent of the total paddy area under HYV paddy, while fertiliser consumption level had shot up to 21 kg per hectare, an official report said.

In order to augment yields with the help of irrigation, 5,750 shallow tube wells were installed during 1997-98 and the installation work for another 11,500 were in progress.

During 1999-2000, there is a provision of installing 15,000 STW's. With thecompletion of this project, an additional 60,000 hectares would be brought under irrigation facilities.