Farm growth unlikely to improve in FY11: Sen

Agriculture growth is unlikely to show improvement in the next fiscal as rabi crops may not yield desired results in view of a rise in temperature, Planning Commission Member Abhijit Sen said today.

"There could be a shortfall in agri-growth even in the next fiscal. The rabi crop, which was expected to compensate for lost kharif production in the ongoing fiscal, is also in for problems because of rise in temperature, which might kill its foreseen higher yield prospects," he said after inaugurating the 'Green Revolution 2 Summit' here.

The rabi season runs from October to June.

The official estimates released today pegged a 0.02 per cent compression in agriculture growth for the current fiscal.

Blaming executors of the government policies for negative agri-growth, Sen said that the government, however, will be able to maintain the projected growth of over 4 per cent for farm sector by the end of the 11th Five-Year Plan.

While acclaimed agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan said: "The agriculture growth will not remain negative in the current fiscal, but its plight will be as much miserable as that of current fiscal even in the next fiscal."

Agriculture output has hit substantially in the 2009-10 fiscal as kharif crops grown in the June-September period were damaged due to the worst drought in 30 years.

According to official estimates, foodgrains production in the kharif season would be down at 98.83 million tonnes, against the actual production of 117.70 million tonnes in the same season last year.