New Delhi: India's per capita availability of foodgrain has been declining despite the country witnessing successive years of bumper production since 2007-08.
The per capita supply of the foodgrain fell to 436 grams
a day in 2008, compared with 442.8 grams in 2007 and 445.3
grams the year before, according to the data presented by the
Minister of State for Agriculture, K V Thomas, in a written
reply in the Lok Sabha today.
The per capita supply dipped even though the country's
foodgrain production touched an all-time-high of 230.78
million tonnes (MT) in 2007-08, followed by another year of
bumper output at 233.88 MT.
The minister attributed the fall in the availability of
foodgrains to "fluctuations in production caused by variations
in weather conditions".
Similarly, the per capita availability of cereals dipped
to 374.6 grams a day last year from 412.8 grams in 2006.
However, the per capita supply of pulses has increased to
41.8 grams a day in 2008 from 32.5 grams in 2006, Thomas said.
India produced 14.66 MT of pulses last year, compared
with 14.76 MT in 2007-08, while coarse cereal output touched
39.48 MT against 40.76 MT during the review period.
A commodity analyst said though the country achieved
record production in foodgrain and in some other crops during
these two years (2007-09), the productivity in the farm sector
is yet to catch up with the rise in population.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, July 28, 2009, 17:48