MTECHTIPS

MTECHTIPS:-India foodgrain production to touch 250 mn tons in 2012-13: Pawar

India's foodgrains production will touch 250 million tons in 2012-13, according to Agriculture Minister, Sharad Pawar. Improved rabi prospects have resulted in increase in forecasted production, he added.Because of poor monsoon, Kharif foodgrains production is pegged at 117.18 million tons this crop year. Kharif foodgrains production was at an all-time high of 129.94 mt in 2011-12.But expectations of a better rabi crop, on revival of late monsoons would help offset the decline in kharif output, thereby increasing the overall output. Last year, the total foodgrains output touched an all-time high of 257.44 mt and the target for the current year is pegged at 249.52 mt.The need to strengthen the foodgrains procurement mechanism in India's Eastern States to provide better prices to farmers in these states has been stressed by Pawar in the Conference of Food Ministers and Secretaries of States and Union Territories.He added that the second green revolution is being ushered in India's Eastern States of West Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, where paddy production is set for a rise