Food production in 2019-20 increases to 296 million

The foodgrain production in 2019-20 has increased to 296.65 million, said Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar today.
<p style="font-weight: 400;">“The pulses and oilseed production is expected to be at 23.15 and 33.42 million tonnes,” the press statement issued by his Ministry said.</p>
<p style="font-weight: 400;">“Also, Kharif crop sowing till September 11 is 1,113 lakh hectares which is 46 lakh hectares more than normal sowing area,” the release said.</p>
<p style="font-weight: 400;">“Government is taking revolutionary steps to strengthen agriculture infrastructure and the economic condition of the farmers. Recently, the Agricultural Infrastructure Fund (AIF) scheme worth Rs 1 lakh crore for four years has been launched for creating facilities for cold storage, warehouse, packaging, ripening and waxing plants by agri-entrepreneurs, farmers’ association, and local government agencies,” Tomar said addressing the National Conference for Rabi Campaign 2020.</p>
“With 354.91 lakh bales production of the cotton, India is set to get rise to the first position in the world,” the release further added.
<p style="font-weight: 400;">Congratulating the farmer and state governments for the achievement, the Minister said, “Tentative allocation to the states has made on the basis of the total value of the output of the state from agriculture and allied sectors. A 3 per cent interest subvention will be given on bank interest, making loan with an effective interest rate in the range of 5 to 5.5 per cent. Formation of 10,000 Farmers Producer Organizations (FPOs) is another such step to organize farmers in aggregation and marketing for higher returns.”</p>
<p style="font-weight: 400;">Speaking on the farm Bills—the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion & Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020—which have just been passed by Parliament, the Minister said that they will give a boost to farmers engaged in agriculture and allied activities. Farmers will get freedom to sell their produce at different places.</p>
<p style="font-weight: 400;">“Government will continue the practice of procurement at minimum support price (MSP) through the existing network. These measures will attract large private investment leading to rapid development in agriculture and strengthening of the rural economy,” the Minister clarified after Opposition leaders criticized the government on the Bills.</p>
<p style="font-weight: 400;">Last week, Shrimani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal had resigned as minister of food processing industry, protesting against the farm Bills.</p>
<p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>301 m tonnes of food production for 2020-21</strong></p>
<p style="font-weight: 400;">The conference also set a target of 301 million tonnes of food grains production for 2020-21 which includes 119.60, 108.00, 5.00, 9.57, 29.00 and 47.80 million tonnes of rice, wheat, jowar, bajra, maize and coarse cereals, respectively.</p>
More emphasis will be laid on the production of pulses and oilseeds and targets have been set at 25.60 million tonnes for pulses and 37.00 million tonnes for oilseeds.

To reduce import of edible oils, great emphasis is being laid on the production of oilseeds and oil palm plantation indigenously.

Target for the production of mustard has been raised from 92 to 125 lakh tonnes..