Foodgrain Deficit At 13.6%

The agriculture ministry has further lowered its estimates of kharif crop production, indicating a shortfall of over 19 per cent in foodgrains output alone. It had earlier estimated the shortfall at 18.72 per cent.

The ministry is also expecting the rabi foodgrains production this year is to be down by 7.5 per cent compared to the previous season, ruling out any chances of partly making up for the kharif losses in the rabi season.

The total shortfall in foodgrains output during the year is projected at 28.85 million tonnes or 13.61 per cent.

The output of kharif oilseeds is estimated to have dropped 34.4 per cent and that of pulses 18 per cent.

Taking kharif and the current rabi together, the oilseeds output is projected to be down 24.5 per cent and pulses 13.12 per cent.

The new set of output projections for agricultural year 2002-03 (the second estimate for the kharif and the first preliminary one for the rabi) were released today.

The data indicates that the total foodgrains production in 2002-03 is likely to be around 183.17 million tonnes, down 28.85 million tonnes or 13.6 per cent from last year