The coming spring harvest will see a ‘bumper crop’ that will help control the spiralling prices of essential commodities, Minister of State for Agriculture K.V. Thomas said Saturday.
‘There will be a bumper crop in the coming rabi season. The latest estimates of production of major crops indicates a better production scenario in the rabi season,’ Thomas told IANS.
The minister said the prevailing climatic condition in the country was also beneficial for better agricultural production.
These factors are expected to help the government control price rise, Thomas said.
Due to deficient and erratic distribution of rainfall during the last monsoon, the production of kharif crops, or autumn harvest, particularly of rice, coarse cereals and sugarcane had been adversely affected.
According to the second advance estimates of production of major crops, released by the agriculture ministry Thursday, ‘foodgrains production during rabi 2009-10 is expected to exceed the last rabi season’s production – which was a record’.
The total production of pulses during the year is expected to exceed last year’s level by 0.18 million tonnes, the ministry said.
‘The production of rapeseed and mustard is also expected to be higher by 0.23 million tonnes, resulting in overall production of rabi oilseeds exceeding last year’s level by 0.22 million tonnes,’ it said.
‘If weather conditions continue to be favourable, the production of some of the rabi crops is likely to improve further,’ the ministry said.
Rabi crops are generally sown between October and February and harvested between April and June. The most important rabi crop is wheat.
Kharif crops are generally sown April-July and harvested by October. The most important kharif crop is paddy.
