India sets up record 298.3 million tonne food grain production target for 2020-21

India on Thursday set a record 298.3 million tonne target for production of food grains for the 2020-21 crop year, a day after weather scientists forecast a normal monsoon season.

The food grain production targets – 149.92 million tonnes for Kharif and 148.4 million tonnes for the rabi season – were announced by the government during the National Kharif Conference convened through video conferencing here.

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Agriculture Commissioner S K Malhotra, in a presentation at the conference, said the current rabi season (2019-20) will reap a bumper harvest with wheat production set to touch 106 million tonnes as against 99 million tonnes in the previous season.

“The production of rice is targeted at 117.5 million tonnes and wheat at 106.5 million tonnes. We are also focusing on increasing the output of pulses and oilseeds,” Malhotra said.

The production target for pulses has been set at 25.6 million tonnes for the 2020-21 crop year, while that of oilseeds is 36.64 million tonnes, up from 34.19 million tonnes of the current crop year.

Similarly, the coarse cereals production target has been set at 48.7 million tonnes in 2020-21, from estimated 45.24 million tonnes in the current crop year.

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The Centre has also drawn up plans to step up for oil palm plantation with a target to cover 31,500 hectares with about 45 lakh seedlings this year, with the bulk of the plantation in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Mizoram and Karnataka.

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar informed the States that the All India Agri Transport Call Centre has been started to ensure that agriculture is not affected due to the lock down.