India has not reached drought situation: Pawar

Monsoon, the lifeline of agriculture, has covered the entire country but rains are deficient to the extent of 23 per cent, impacting sowing of kharif (summer) crops such as paddy and coarse cereals.

"I do not think we have reached the drought situation yet. I will wait till second week of August ... We are ready with contingency plan for any eventuality. We have kept sufficient seeds for late sowing," Pawar said on the sidelines of the ICAR Foundation day function.

The situation is worrisome in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and central Maharashtra, where sowing of coarse cereals particularly jowar and bajra, has been affected due to lack of rains, he pointed out.

The sowing operation goes up to the first week of August and sufficient seeds are kept ready to help farmers undertake late sowing, he added.

Asked whether the government would restrict foodgrains export, the minister said the stock position is good. "We have ample quantity of wheat and rice to meet domestic demand. We are exporting only wheat from FCI stocks".

Observing that monsoon is playing "hide and seek" this year, Pawar said the challenge before farmers is to maintain record foodgrains production achieved during last two years.

The country produced a record 252.56 million tonnes of foodgrain in 2011-12 crop year (July-June), helped by all time high production of wheat and rice. In 2009, the country faced severe drought which led to sharp decline in foodgrains output by 16 million tonnes. MORE