Central government’s emphasis on cereals
New Delhi : The production of Paddy or Wheat which producers are Punjab, Haryana and Bengal, is unlikely to increase their productions significantly. Therefore, the Modi government directed the states to emphasize to increase the collection of food grains as an alternative to meet the supply of food grains. Cereals i.e., Millet, Bajra, Ragi and Jawar. The central government has now named it “Sri-Anna”, Cultivation of which requires less water. This time, the center has taken the target of collecting 6 lakh tons of grains from the whole country. However, the Center has received reports from the states that the production of Millet or Ragi, other than Jawar, will not be as expected among pulses.
Last year (2022-23 crop year), Jawar production was 3.8 million tonnes, according to government data. This time it can be 4 million tons. But the production of Millet or Ragi is not increasing much. According to the information of the ministry, 11.4 million tons of millet was produced last time. This time 9.5 million tons. Similarly, Ragi may decrease from 1.6 to 1.3 million tonnes.
According to official sources, last time 135 million tons of Rice was produced in the entire country. Centre’s estimate, this time it will be 123 million tonnes. Wheat may increase slightly from 110 million tons last time to 112 million tons. Therefore, it was decided in the meeting of the Union and State Food Secretaries that 30 to 32 million tons of wheat will be collected this time. The target of paddy collection is 9-10 million tons. The significant thing is that the government could not meet the target of wheat collection in the last two years. Last year the target was 34 million tonnes. It was 26. This time only 10 million tons are lying in the warehouse of Food Corporation of India. Which is the lowest in last eight years. The sources said, the people as Bengal, Bihar, Punjab and Haryana are mostly Rice or Wheat eaters so they are not very much interested too much produce of Ragi, Bajra and Jawar. Though, a fee people from Rajasthan and Haryana are Bajra, Ragi and Jawar eaters.
