Bumper crop likely

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Friday said the country is likely to harvest a bumper food crop in 2010-11.

“The way sowing operation is going and reports of good monsoon from the states, we are likely to have a bumper crop (production) this year,” Pawar said on the sidelines of a conference here.

Earlier this week, the minister had said that area under kharif crops was expected to be higher this crop year (July-June) as against the preceding two years. Paddy, oilseeds and pulses are the chief kharif crops.

Foodgrain production had slumped by 7 per cent last year to 218.19 million tonnes after a severe drought hit almost half the country. The production had touched a record 234.47 million tones in the year before that.