Foodgrain output looks comfortable in kharif 2010: Pawar

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today said the country's foodgrains production, pegged at 114.63 million tonnes in the kharif season of 2010-11, looks "comfortable", thanks to widespread rains across the country.

"It (production of foodgrains) looks comfortable. Area under crops such as paddy, pulses, oilseeds, cotton and sugarcane is more than last year and the situation is good," Pawar told reporters here.

The minister made the observation immediately after the Agriculture Ministry released the first advance estimates on production of foodgrains in the kharif season of the 2010-11 crop year.

According to the official release, the country is estimated to harvest a total of 114.63 million tonnes of foodgrains in the 2010-11 kharif season, up from 103.84 million tonnes in the same season of the last crop year.

Rice production is estimated to rise by 6 per cent to 80.41 million tonnes during the 2010-11 kharif from 75.91 million tonnes in the same season last year. However, this would still be lower than the record 84.91 million tonnes in the 2008-09 kharif season.

Kharif sowing starts from the onset of the monsoon in June and harvesting begins from early October.

Pawar said that initially, there were fears that rice crops would be damaged due to excess rains, but fortunately, the situation has improved.

He also said the monsoon will start withdrawing in a week's time.

According to official estimates, the country's pulses production is expected to rise by 40 per cent to 6 million tonnes from 4.3 million tonnes in the review period.

Coarse cereals production is pegged at 28.22 million tonnes in the current kharif season, which is also higher than the 23.63-million tonne output in the year-ago period.

Foodgrains comprise rice, pulses and coarse cereals.

Oilseeds production is estimated to increase to 17.27 million tonnes during the current kharif season from 15.66 million tonnes in the year-ago period.

Soyabean and groundnut are the major kharif oilseeds.

Among cash crops, cotton production is estimated to jump by 40 per cent to 33.5 million bales of 170 kg each, against 23.93 million bales in the previous year.

Sugarcane production is estimated to increase to 324 million tonnes this year, against 277 million tonnes last year -- a staggering 16 per cent rise that is expected to boost sugar production.