NEW DELHI: With the prospect of better overall crop output due to good monsoon rains this year, the Centre has set a foodgrains production target of 341 million tonnes in the country for the 2024-25 crop year (July-June). This new record level is 9 million tonnes (2.7%) more than the output in 2023-24. The primary focus of the target is on pulses among foodgrains and oilseeds in the non-foodgrains basket, as both crops are important for reducing India’s import bills.
The foodgrains output target includes record production targets of wheat at 115 million tonnes (MT) and pulses at nearly 30 MT.The target for pulses is 25% higher than the production in 2023-24. Similarly, the target for oilseeds production has been set at nearly 45 MT, which is 12% higher than its production in the previous crop year. However, the target for water-guzzling paddy is reduced by 1 million tonnes, from 137 MT of production in 2023-24 to 136 MT in 2024-25.
“We will achieve these targets through crop diversification, promoting inter-cropping, increasing acreage, and using high-yielding seed varieties in less fertile zones,” said the Union Agriculture Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, after day-long deliberations on various farm-related issues at a national conference on Rabi (winter sown) crops on Saturday.
Referring to the significant gap between the final sale price of perishable commodities, such as vegetables, to consumers in cities and what the farmers actually receive in villages, Chouhan said a committee has been constituted to suggest ways to reduce this gap. “For example, if the Centre and the state together bear the cost of transportation, then consumers will get cheaper vegetables, and the farmer will also get a better price,” he said.
A recent study on vegetables and fruits, conducted by the Reserve Bank of India, shows that farmers are receiving around just one-third of the price that a consumer pays for the three key vegetables – tomato, onion, and potato – in cities.
Ministers from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Arunachal Pradesh, along with senior officials of agriculture departments from across the country, brainstormed during the conference on ways and means to achieve the crop output targets for 2024-25. Chouhan assured that the central govt will work collaboratively on every suggestion given by them.
During the consultations, it was underlined that the govt aims to increase the production of oilseeds from 39 MT in 2022-23 to 69 MT in 2030-31. The target includes increasing the area under cultivation from the existing 29 million hectares to 33 million hectares and improving yield from 1353 kg/ha to 2112 kg/ha by 2030-31, in order to meet the increasing demand for edible oil in the country and to make India self-reliant.
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