Survey for efforts to boost prod of cereals

The Economic Survey stressed on special efforts to promote production of coarse cereals.

The Economic Survey stressed on special efforts to promote production and productivity of all coarse cereals to ensure food and nutritional security of the country.

“There is every reason to promote the production of coarse cereals particularly in the rain-fed areas by increasing investment in research and the schemes,” the Survey tabled in Parliament by Pranab Mukherjee said.

The report observed that yield has shown significant improvement despite decline in area in all the major coarse cereals except maize.

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Coarse cereals constituted only 15 per cent of the country’s foodgrains production in 2009-10,it commented.

Wheat and rice,which constituted 78 per cent of the foodgrains production in 2009-10,formed the mainstay of the country’s food and nutritional security.

The report noted that since there was no technological breakthrough in coarse cereals,the growth rate in area of total coarse cereals in both the period (1980-81 to 1989-90 and 2000-01 to 2009-10) was negative.

It reflected either shift to other crops or relatively dry area remaining fallow,the survey said.

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“In all the major coarse cereals there was negative growth in the area during both the periods except maize,which recorded a growth rate of 2.98 per cent in 2000-01 to 2009-10 period,” it noted.

Production of coarse cereals is hovering around 40 million tonnes since 2007-08,but it declined to 33.55 in 2009-10 because of country-wide drought.

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