A plan for the Winter Crop
03 Oct 2023 5 mins Download PDF
A plan for the Winter Crop
Why in the News?
The Rabi conference was recently held by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW), to discuss about the problems and prospects of rabi crops in the upcoming winter season.
India’s food production:
- The Indian monsoon (June to September) recorded a 5.6% deficit rainfall compared to the long-period average (LPA).
- Despite wide deviation in its temporal spread (August- driest month since 1901) the area planted under paddy and sugarcane is higher by 1.9 per cent and 7.64 per cent respectively, compared to the preceding year.
- However, area under pulses decreased by 4.2%.
- The Mustard production jumped by 37% which helped to tackle the import crisis of palm and sunflower oil.
The Rabi Conference:
- Adequate fertiliser stocks to take care of the demand of the rabi season.
- Wheat, the main rabi crop which is susceptible to heat wave, can be tackled with the release of numerous heat-resistant wheat varieties.
- This shall cover roughly 60% of the sown area, up from 45% last year.
- Of the 2,200 varieties of different crops released by India’s agri-research system in the last 9 years, 1,800 are climate resilient.
- To prioritise agro-ecological based crop planning for diversion of land from excess commodities like rice and wheat to deficit commodities like oilseeds and pulses and high value export earning crops.
- Increase area of cropping through
- Inter-cropping and crop diversification
- Productivity enhancement through introduction of HYVs
- Adoption of suitable agronomic practices in low yielding regions.
Shift from “production-centric” to a “food systems” approach:
- Need better and more accurate estimates of production
- Monitor the prices that farmers get
- Monitor the progress of crops every week
- Upgrade our patwari-based production estimate system to one that is based on high technology, which will help settle crop insurance claims.
- Better technology and better policies rather than abrupt export bans/stocking limits.
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