Commodity Alert: Govt’s 1st estimate sees kharif food output dropping 2.8% to 134.67 MT: Agriculture Ministry.
Floods and erratic rainfall in different parts of the country may bring down the 2017 kharif food grain output to 134.67 million tonnes (mt) from a record harvest of 138.52 mt during the previous kharif season. Rice output was estimated to fall to 94.48 mt, down 1.9 mt from 96.39 mt in the last kharif season. The drop in output was seen across all major rain-fed crops barring sugarcane, which registered a nearly 10 per cent increase in cropping area and a corresponding increase in output: 337.7 mt against 306.72 mt in kharif 2016.The impact of floods is apparent on cotton cultivation. Despite having nearly 19 per cent increase in area under cultivation, the output is likely to fall sharply to 32.27 million bales (of 170 kg), against 33.09 million bales last year. Many cotton-growing districts in Gujarat were affected by floods. While production of pulses is estimated to fall to 8.71 mt from 9.42 mt last year, coarse cereals output is projected to be down to 31.49 mt from 32.71 mt. Output of arhar dal and moong were projected to be 3.99 mt and 1.32 mt, respectively, against 4.78 mt and 1.62 mt, respectively, last year. The output of urad, which was seen an increase of 22 per cent in cropping area, was estimated to be 2.53 mt, which is 17 per cent higher than the last kharif season.
Source: The Hindu-business
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