Govt sets record 104.3 mn ton rice production target for 2021-22 kharif season

The government on Friday set a record rice production target of 104.3 million tonnes for the Kharif season of 2021-22 crop year (July-June).

Rice is the main crop grown in the Kharif season, sowing of which begins with the onset of southwest monsoon from June.

In the Kharif season last crop year, rice production was estimated to be at 103.75 million tonnes against the target of 102.60 million tonnes, as per the agriculture ministry's second advance estimate.

Discussing with states about the preparedness for the forthcoming Kharif season, Agriculture Commissioner S K Malhotra said southwest monsoon as a whole is likely to be normal this year as per the Met Department. The rice production target for the 2021-22 Kharif season is set at a record 104.3 million tonnes.

He asked the states to promote rice hybrid and drought, salinity, and flood-tolerant seed varieties, besides encouraging safe and judicious use of tricyclazole and ibuprofen in rice to avoid the presence of residue in rice exports.

Whereas the production target for coarse cereals is kept at 37.31 million tonnes, oilseeds at 26.20 million tonnes, and pulses at 9.82 million tonnes for the Kharif season of 2021-22.

The Total foodgrains production target of 151.43 million tonnes has been set for the Kharif season of this year.

In the same Kharif season last year, foodgrains production was estimated to have been 147.95 million tonnes, slightly below the target of 149.35 million tonnes set for that season, as per the ministry's data. According to the ministry, the production target for cotton has been fixed at 37 million bale (of 170 kg each), sugarcane at 387 million tonnes, while jute/mesta at 10.6 million bale (of 180 kg each) for the current year. On agri-inputs, Malhotra said the requirement of urea has been assessed at 177.53 lakh tonne, di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) at 65.18 lakh tonne, Muriate of Potash (MoP) at 20.24 lakh tonne, and NPK fertilizers at 61.87 lakh tonne for the Kharif season of this year. In the case of seeds, the availability is estimated to be in surplus as far as most Kharif crops are concerned, except for maize and soybean. The shortage of maize seeds is pegged at 73,445 tonnes, while soybean seeds at 87,656 tonnes in the forthcoming Kharif season, which the government said will be met from National Seeds Corporation, private seed companies, and farm-saved seed, Malhotra said in the presentation. However, the overall foodgrains production target for the full 2021-22 crop year is kept at 307.31 million tonnes. This includes Kharif and rabi season.