PM reviews foodgrains stock situation amid poor monsoon

"We reviewed the foodgrains situation, effect of monsoon failure, export, procurement, modernising public distribution system (PDS)," Food Minister K V Thomas told reporters after the Prime Minister meeting.

"The situation on all these issues would again be reviewed after 15 days," he added.

Monsoon rains, the life line of Indian agriculture, have been deficient by 21 per cent so far this year across the country and the situation is worrisome in Karnataka and central Maharashtra.

The deficient rainfall has affected the sowing of Kharif crops, mainly paddy, pulses, coarse cereals and oilseeds.

Recently, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had said the country has not reached the drought situation yet but there is a challenge to sustain the record production achieved by the country in last two years.

India had faced a severe drought in 2009 which led to decline of foodgrains production by 16 million tonnes to 218 million tonnes.

On the back of good monsoon, the country had produced a record 257.44 million tonnes of foodgrains output in the 2011-12 crop year (July-June) with an all-time high production of wheat and rice.

The government is currently having a sufficient stock of wheat and rice in its godowns at record 82 million tonnes. The country is currently exporting wheat and rice due to record output.

With overflowing stock in FCI godowns, the government is grappling with storage problem as it has capacity to store only 64 million tonnes of grains.