Barring potato and onions, productions of food grains, including paddy and oil seeds, have declined in Odisha.
According to sources, over 96.32 lakh metric ton food grains were produced in State in 2013-14, while the productions were considerably higher in 2014-15 at 118 lakh metric ton. But 2015-16 saw a sharp decline in food productions which got reduced to only 76.30 lakh MT, sources added.
Notwithstanding the repeated bagging of national awards for the agriculture sector, the State had produced only 58.75 lakh MT paddy during the 2015-16, while it was 98.45 lakh MT the previous year.
Similarly, production of wheat too fell to a mere 6,000 MT during 2015-16 from 18,000 MT the previous year and 26,000 MT in 2013-14, the sources added, quoting official statistics.
Production of oilseeds and pulses too declined in State, the sources informed. It drastically fell to 5.74 lakh MT during 2015-16 from 9.36 lakh MT the previous fiscal.
However, production of potato and onion registered growth in the State, the sources said, adding, potato production rose to 3.89,000 MT during 2015-16 while onion production grew to 5 lakh ton during the period.
Notably, the potato demand is about 10 lakh ton and that of onion is around 5 lakh ton in the State.