Foodgrain production to increase by 2.2% in FY09: CMIE

Foodgrain production is expected to increase by 2.2 per cent in FY09, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) has said in its monthly review here.

CMIE expects foodgrain production to reach 234 million tonnes as compared to 230 million tonnes during FY08, an increase of 2.2 per cent.

Kharif acreage was down by 2.4 per cent in 2008 due to the absence of rain in the crucial sowing month of July. But increased acreage and favourable weather conditions are expected to boost rabi production, the CMIE report said.

Despite expectations of higher foodgrain output, "Our projection for growth in total crop production during FY09 stands revised downwards to 1.2 per cent from our earlier estimate of 2.5 per cent," it said.

The scaling down of the growth rate was due to an upward revision in the government's final crop production figures for FY08 and also on account of "our downward revision in production estimates of some non-food crops in FY09", it added.