Cereal prices soared between 2005 and 2013: Study

The commodities of which the prices rose during 2005 and 2013 include paddy, wheat, gram, ragi, bajra, potatoes, milk, meat and eggs

Under the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, the prices of paddy, wheat, gram, ragi, bajra, potatoes, milk, meat and eggs, along with a number of other things, went up the most between 2005 and 2013.

According to the report of a sub-committee on the estimation of the gross value of outputs in agriculture and allied activities, with 2012-13 as base, constituted by the government, in rise in banana prices was the steepest during this period.

The wholesale price of marine and inland fishes, too, showed a sharp increase during this period and went up from 3.2 per cent to 13 per cent and from 18.1 per cent to over 21 per cent, respectively, during this period. The Wholesale Price Index of paddy rose from 5.2 per cent in 2005-06 to 12.7 per cent in 2011-12, while that of ragi rose from 1.4 per cent to 35.8 per cent during the same time. The report of the sub-committee was submitted to the government sometime back, but it was released to the public this month.

The Centre had revised its gross domestic product (GDP) for agriculture and allied activities based on the new base for the year 2012-13 to 3.7 per cent down from 4.6 per cent in the earlier base.

“While calculating agriculture GDP with a new base we had realised that many of data sets need to be updated. We have recommended it. For sectors like fisheries, more surveys and analysis needs to be done,” Mahendra Dev, director (vice-chancellor) of Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research told Business Standard.

The report showed share of horticulture in total Gross Value of Agriculture rose from 28 per cent in 2004-05 to around 32.85 per cent in 2012-13 while that of cereal crops declined from 30.4 per cent in 2004-05 to around 28.23 per cent in 2012-13.

Fruits and vegetables constituted around 82 per cent of total Gross Value of Horticulture products. Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Gujarat were among the major producers of fruits in the country, while West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha were among the major producers of vegetables during the above mentioned period.

In the total Gross Value of Output for Livestock, milk held the maximum share, which also meant that its prices perhaps showed a most consistent increase.

The value of poultry meat from 2004-05 to 2012-13 rose from Rs 12,118 crore to Rs 20,306 crore, while that of eggs rose from Rs 5,850 crore to Rs 8,897 crore during the same period. Gross value of output is calculated by multiplying total production with price in with a certain weight assigned.

The report also showed that among all input for agriculture in the last 10 years livestock feed had the maximum share for the farmers of around 49.9 per cent, followed by fertiliser and seeds.