Pawar confident of better production despite monsoon hiccups

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today expressed confidence that India's foodgrain production would be better than last year despite scanty rain in Uttar Pradesh and flooding in parts of Punjab and Haryana.

"It is true that in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and in some parts of Bihar, there has been insufficient rain. It is also true that because of heavy rain in Punjab and Haryana, there are some damages. However, we will have more production than last year," Pawar said here. 

India had produced 234.47 million tonnes of foodgrains in 2008-09 and last week, the Agriculture Minister, enthused by better prospect of rain, had said that the country would have "bumper produce" this year. 

"The latest sowing report shows that compared to last year, the area coverage is more for rice, oilseeds, pulses, cotton, sugarcane and jute," Pawar said, adding the prospect of monsoon is "quite encouraging" as of today. 

The monsoon, however, has started playing truant since the past one week, raising some concerns about lower production.

"Definitely, there is a gap, but there will be continuity (of rainfall) after the gap. I am not worried as this happens sometimes. A year before also there was some gap but we could produce substantially without any problem," he said.

The met department has predicted that rainfall would be 98 per cent in July and 102 per cent in August, he said.

Pawar said that though there are "some damages" because of rain in Punjab and Haryana, the farmers and the government of the two states exuded confidence that the production, particularly rice, would not be affected.

"There could be some damages, but they are hopeful of meeting the gap," he said. Punjab and Haryana contribute maximum foodgrains to the Central pool.

The Minister, however, expressed concerns about storage capacity, and said that the government is seriously pursuing state and private participation in the construction of godowns. Currently, the government's storage capacity is 41 million tonnes against the stock of 60 million tonnes.

"If the assessment (sowing) is correct and the next year production is higher, then storage will be a serious problem. That's why, we are aggressively going with the help of the state governments to construct warehouses in different parts of the country," Pawar said.

Pawar said that his Ministry will assess the space crunch in a week's time and if required, might seek more concession from the Finance Ministry for parties interested in constructing warehouses.