The National Conference on Agriculture for Kharif Campaign 2022-23 has been inaugurated by Union Agriculture Minister, Narendra Singh Tomar at the NASC Complex, New Delhi. As per the 2nd Advance Estimates (2021-22), the country’s total production of foodgrains is estimated at 3160 lakh tonnes which is an all-time record.
Overview:
- The production of oilseeds and pulses will be 371.5 and 269.5 lakh tonnes, respectively.
- As per the 3rd advanced estimates, during 2020-21 the horticulture production is 3310.5 lakh tonnes, the highest ever for the country’s horticulture.
The objective of this conference
- This conference’s objective was to assess and review the crop performance during the previous crop seasons and fix crop-wise targets for the Kharif season in consultation with the various State Governments of the country.
- Also, ensuring critical inputs supply and facilitating the adoption of innovative technologies for the enhancement of production and productivity of crops were also talked about.
- Agro-ecological based crop planning is the current priority for the diversion of land from excess commodities like wheat and rice to deficit commodities such as pulses, oilseeds, and high-value crops for export earnings.
- Also, high priority is also being given to crop diversification with the focus on self-sufficiency in Pulses, Oilseeds, Palm Oil, etc.
- To finalize a National Policy Frame Work for Crop Diversification Programme, consultations with researchers, states, policymakers, and industries have also been conducted.
National Targets
National targets have also been set by the conference. For the year 2022-23, the target for total food grain production has been set at 3280 lakh tonnes as compared to the 3160 lakh tonnes during the current year. The target for production of pulses and oilseeds has been fixed at 295.5 and 413.4 lakh tonnes respectively in 2022-23. Also, the Nutri-cereals production has to be increased to 205.0 lakh tonnes in 2022-23 from 115.3 in 2021-22. In low yielding regions, the strategy would be to increase area through intercropping and crop diversification, while increasing productivity through the introduction of HYVs and the adoption of appropriate agronomic methods.
The increasing trend in food grain production
Since 2015-16, India is witnessing an increasing trend in the production of food grain. In the last 6 years, the total food grain production increased by 25 per cent to 316.01 million tonnes from 251.54 million tonnes. Oilseeds have shown a growth of 42 per cent to 37.15 million tonnes in 2021-22 from 25.25 million tonnes in 2015-16. The agricultural products export of the country has grown by 19.92 per cent during 2021-22 and stood at USD 50.21 billion. Commodities like other cereals, wheat, rice (except Basmati), raw cotton, soya meal, processed, and fresh vegetables etc have shown positive growth.