National conference organized for Rabi campaign 2023-24
Recently, the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare organized a national conference for Rabi Campaign 2023-24. The objective of this National Conference organized for the Rabi Campaign 2023-24 is to review-assess the crop performance during the preceding crop season, fix crop-wise targets for the Rabi season in consultation with the State Governments, ensure supply of critical inputs and ensure proper management of crops, To facilitate the adoption of new technologies with a view to increase the productivity of agriculture. It was told that agro-ecologically appropriate and need based crop diversification will be promoted in India.
National Conference on Rabi Campaign 2023-24
Secretary of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department, Manoj Ahuja told in this conference that there is a trend of increase in food grain production in the country since 2015-16. Secretary Ahuja said that according to the third advance estimate (2022-23), the production of food grains in India can be 3305 lakh tonnes, which is 149 lakh tonnes more than the production of food grains during 2021-22. Record production of rice, maize, gram, pulses, rapeseed and mustard, oilseeds and sugarcane is estimated.
Secretary Manoj Ahuja said that in the last 8 years the total food grain production has increased by 31 percent from 251.54 to 330.54 million tonnes. Oilseeds and pulses have followed the same trend as exports of agricultural products (including marine and plantation products) for the year 2022-23, crossing $53.145 billion. This is the highest level ever for agricultural exports. This achievement of the last 2 years will prove to be extremely helpful in realizing PM Modi’s vision of improving the income of farmers.
The national target of total food grain production for the year 2023-24 has been set at 3320 million tonnes. The national target of total food grains production in Rabi season is 1612 lakh tonnes. Similarly, the share of Rabi seeding will be 181 out of 292 lakh tonnes for pulses and 145 out of 440 lakh tonnes for oilseeds. The strategy will be to increase the area through inter-cropping and crop diversification and increase the level through introduction of HVV and appropriate agricultural techniques in low yielding areas.
Mustard production has increased by 37 percent in the last 3 years from 91.24 to 124.94 lakh tonnes. Productivity has increased by 7% from 1331 to 1419 kg/hectare. The area under rapeseed and mustard has increased by 28 percent from 68.56 lakh hectares in 2019-20 to 88.06 lakh hectares in 2022-23. This commendable achievement has been achieved due to the farming community and the state government. Increasing production of mustard is helping to overcome some of the problems faced by imports of palm and sunflower oil.
Conclusion
The national conference organized for Rabi campaign 2023-24 raised concerns over the large yield gap in crop production with farmer practice compared to advanced technologies. Crops and Oilseeds Joint Secretary Shubha Thakur presented the vision for pulses and oilseeds for the next 5 years to make the country self-reliant in these commodities. In this, it has been proposed to achieve the target of 325.47 lakh tonnes for pulses by the year 2025.
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