The harvest-ready kharif crops of this year are in good condition and have not been affected by recent heavy rains in some parts of the country. The minor losses due to rains in the isolated pockets was factored in during the first projection made last month with respect to total kharif (summer) foodgrains output for the 2017-18 crop year (July-June).
As per the first estimate, kharif foodgrains output is likely to be lower at 134.67 million tonnes in 2017-18 from 138.52 MT in the year-ago period. “The recent rains have not impacted the 2017-18 kharif output. The crops condition is very good in the entire country,” said Union Agriculture Secretary Shobhana K Pattanayak on Monday.
The southwest monsoon has nearly gotten over. During the monsoon withdrawal phase, there were rains in isolated pockets but that has not impacted the harvest-ready crops, he said.
Harvesting of most kharif crops is underway. More than 10 MT of paddy has been harvested and brought to mandis in Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh so far, as per the official data. Farmers, who have harvested their crop, have started preparing fields for sowing of rabi (winter) crops. Specifically, planted acreage for coarse grains ( maize) and pulses (tur/arhar) has fallen below last year’s level. Tur/arhar acreage is down by 9-lakh hectares from last year’s record 52.2-lakh ha.
Asked about rabi sowing, Pattanayak said: “It will start this week. Rabi crop prospects are really good.” The agriculture ministry has kept foodgrains production target of 137.55 million tonnes for rabi season of this year. Wheat is the main crop besides pulses.
On the sale of unapproved and fake cotton seeds has been reported from cotton growing states like Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra, Pattanayak said that the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is looking into the matter of sale of spurious cotton seeds and action will be taken based on its report. Expressing concern over sale of such seeds, he said the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has been asked to prepare a report and study the extent of penetration of spurious cotton seeds in the market. “It is a matter of concern. We expect the ICAR to submit the report soon. After assessing the situation, the Government of India will take an appropriate action,” Pattanayak said.
Meanwhile FCI said that rice procurement has risen to 69.89 lakh tonnes (lT) so far in the 2017- 18 marketing year that started this month, compared to 69.31 lT in the year-ago. Food Corporation of India (FCI), the nodal agency for procurement and distribution, had procured 381 lT in the 2016 -17 marketing season (October-September).
According to FCI officials, for the current year, the government has fixed a higher rice procurement target at 375 lT on hopes of good production. “The arrival of paddy is picking up in mandis. Till last week, about 111 lT of paddy had arrived in Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh,” officials said. FCI and state agencies, which normally buy in rice format, have procured 41.33 lT of the grain in Punjab and 28.56 lT in Haryana so far.
The procurement in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand has just begun and will pick up pace in the coming days, the official said adding that a little over 22,000 tonnes have been procured from Uttar Pradesh so far. The procurement is being done at minimum support prices (MSP). For 2017-18, paddy MSP of ‘common’ grade variety has been fixed at Rs 1,550 per quintal, while that of ‘A’ grade variety at Rs 1,590 per quintal. Rice output is pegged at 94.48 million tonnes in the kharif 2017-18 season, slightly lower than 96.39 million tonnes in the year-ago, as per the Agriculture Ministry’s firstestimate. A small quantity of rice come from rabi season also, sowing of which will begin soon.