September rains crucial for kharif foodgrain output: IARI

Kharif foodgrain production may fall below last year's level of 126.31 million tonnes if crucial September rains are not well distributed, the government's premier agri-research body IARI said today.

According to the Met Department, the country received 12% less rains so far. Much affected areas are parts of Maharasthra, north interior Karnataka, Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand, among others.

"Rains in September are very important. If September rains are well distributed, kharif production is still expected to be atleast as good as last year or better than last year. If September troubles us, we will be still not reaching last year's level," Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) new Director Trilochan Mohapatra told PTI.

In the 2014-15 kharif season, foodgrain production was estimated to have fallen to 126.31 million tonnes, from 128.69 million tonnes in 2013-14 due to poor rains, as per the Agriculture Ministry data.

Mohapatra said: "This year's kharif foodgrain output would be below the 2013-14 level. Definitely, the situation is not so much encouraging as it was in the 2013-14 crop year. Let's wait and see."

Stating that any likely increase in kharif output would depend on the well-distributed September rains, Mohapatra said, "Even if you have a 10-12% rainfall deficit, it may not matter much if it is evenly distributed."

Transplanting of rice, the main kharif crop, is still going on in some states like Bihar and Odisha and farmers would continue that till September-end, he said.

On crop condition of pulses and oilseeds, the IARI chief said these crops do not require much water, but they would suffer from extreme weather conditions.

As per the Ministry data, farmers have sown kharif crops in 96.78 million hectares till August 28 of the ongoing kharif season that started from June, as against 95.69 million hectares in the year-ago period.

Rice has been sown in 34.58 million hectares, coarsegrains in 17.25 million hectares, oilseeds in 17.45 million hectares and pulses in 10.55 million hectares in the said period.