Grain ouput to be 115 MT

The country is likely to produce 115.33 million tonnes (MT) of grain in the 2008-09 kharif season, down 4.65 per cent from the fourth advance estimates of the previous year but up 2.75 per cent from the first estimates of last year. The output of rice, the main kharif crop is likely to be 83.25 million tonnes.

The productivity this year is better and production should move up as we go to declare the consecutive estimates, provided weather remains favourable, T Nanda Kumar, secretary, department of agriculture and cooperation said while releasing the kharif estimates here.

Floods have affected 250,000 hectares of crop in Bihar, about 100,000 hectares in Orissa and a similar portion in Assam also. However, this has been factored in the estimates, he said. The overall kharif acreage is down by nearly 3 million hectares mainly due to non-sowing in rain deficit areas of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat.

Kumar said the country is likely to add 3 million hectares of land in the rabi season.