Admitting that drought in West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand dented kharif paddy production this year, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has asked states to maximise crop during the coming rabi (winter) season.
“Because of deficient rainfall in major rice producing states such as West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand, paddy production may not be as good as we had initially expected,” Mr Pawar said addressing the rabi campaign on Friday.
He said that the government will provide Rs 500 crores to drought-hit West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand for extending a subsidy on diesel farmers use to power their water pump-sets.
India’s rice production declined to 89.13 million tonnes in the 2009-10 crop year from a record 99.18 million tonnes in the previous year on account of a severe drought in 2009 that hit almost half of the country. The minister said the total foodgrain production for 2009-10 is likely to be 218 million tonnes as against the target of 239 million tonnes. He also pointed out the need to reduce wastage in storage and improving efficiency of the food supply chain in the light of the recent reports of large-scale wastage.
Though the agriculture minister promised all help to the states, he expressed concern on the unspent balances with the states under various schemes. “High unspent balances with the states is a matter of concern and is proving to be a limiting factor to release these funds expeditiously,” he said.