Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives (MoAC) has stated that the nation will face deficit of 316,465 tons of food in 2009/10, more than double the deficit figure of 132,914 tons recorded last year.[break]
“The huge rise in food deficit means the government will need to spend more to supply food to remote districts. This will also lead to rise in prices of commodities in the market,” Dr Hari Dahal, spokesperson at the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives (MoAC), told Republica on Wednesday. He further added that the government would have to come up with special programs to raise crop production in the coming seasons so as to lessen the impact of widening shortfall in food supply. Dahal said the rise in food deficit would result to the short supply of food to around 1.6 million people. “There is no alternative to importing food to supplement the supplies this year,” Dahal said.
Officials said adverse monsoon, lack of adequate availability of improved seeds, insufficient use of fertilizer, slackness in agriculture resources and shrinking cultivable land due to rapid urbanization and rise in population were the factors behind the fall in paddy production.
Fresh estimates of MoAC show that the production of wheat increased by a whopping 16 percent to 1.55 tons this, thanks to the rise in wheat production area by 5 percent to 731,131 hectares.
Production of barley, a major staple in Himalayan districts, also increased by 19 percent to 27,500 tons due to rise in production area by 3 percent to 26,600 hectares. Wheat accounts for 24 percent of total cereal crop basket, while barley´s contribute to the total cereal basket stands at one percent.
“Rise in production area and favorable rainfall as well as sufficient snowfall in producing districts resulted to higher productivity of wheat and barley this season,” Dr Dahal said. He further added that productivity of wheat and barley was recorded at 2,129 kg and 1,037 kg per hectare respectively this year, up from 1,934 kg and 900 kg per hectare recorded last year.
MoAC has already announced decline in production of major cereal crops - paddy, maize and millets -- due to long spell of draught and delayed plantation in key producing districts. Production of paddy and maize dropped by 11 percent and 4 percent respectively this year.
Production of paddy, which accounts for around 45 percent of the total cereal crop basket, went down by 500,000 tons to 4.02 million tons. Paddy production area also squeezed by 5 percent this year. Paddy production last year was recorded at 4.52 million tons, the highest figure in the last six decades.
Total worth of wheat production this year is around Rs 24.8 billion - at the average farm-gate price of Rs 1,600 per quintal - which is around 2.58 percent of total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Rs 960 billion.
Maize production plunged by 4 percent or 75,000 tons to 1.85 million tons this year. However, production of millet rose by 2 percent to 300,000 tons, from 293,000 tons recorded last year. Production area of millet increased by 0.97 percent to 268,473 hectares compared to last year, according to MoAC.
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