New Delhi: The government has set the target for foodgrains production at 261 million tonnes in the 2014-15 crop year, lower than the last year's record output.
The country is estimated to have achieved an all-time high production of foodgrains at 264.38 million tonnes (MT) in the 2013-14 crop year (July-June), as per government data.
"Government of India has set targets for agricultural production including foodgrains for the year 2014-15," Minister of State for Agriculture Sanjeev Kumar Balyan said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.
Stating that the government estimates foodgrains output every year, he said: "... As the sowing window of Kharif crops is up to first week of August, it is too early to estimate shortfall in production of foodgrains in current year".
Balyan said the state governments have prepared district- wise contingency plans to check shortfall in the production of foodgrains in view of deficient rainfall in many parts of the country in the current monsoon/Kharif season.
In the foodgrains category, the government has kept the targets for rice at 106 MT, wheat at 94 MT, pulses at 19.5 MT and coarse cereals at 41.5 MT.
These targets are less than the third advance estimates released by the Agriculture Ministry in May for 2013-14 as the government generally keeps conservative target.
India is estimated to have harvested 106.29 MT of rice, 95.85 MT of wheat, 19.57 MT of pulses and 42.68 MT of coarse cereals in 2013-14.
However, the target for oil seeds production has been set higher at 33 MT for 2014-15 against 32.41 MT last year.
In cash-crops, the government has kept lower target for cotton and sugarcane at 35 million bales (of 170kg each) and 345 MT, respectively, for 2014-15. Last year, the country produced 36.5 million bales of cotton and 348.38 MT of sugarcane.
