(a) the details of the production of food grains and pulses per acre in the country especially in backward and rural areas as on date, State-wise;
(b) whether the production level meets international levels;
(c) if not, the reasons therefor; and
(d) the steps taken or proposed to be taken to increase the production as per international level?
MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
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(a): The details of production per hectare (productivity)of food grains and pulsesis maintained State-wise which is given at Annexure.
(b): As per Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the productivity level of pulses and cereals in the world is 992.3 Kgs. per hectare and 4113.1 Kgs. per hectare respectively. Whereas, as per 4th Advance Estimates of 2019-20, in India it is 817 Kgs. per hectare of pulses and 2756 Kgs. per hectare of cereals. However, over the years there has been increase in the productivity of pulses and cereals in the country due to various steps taken by the Government.
(c): In most of the pulse crops we are very close to world’s yield level. However, in some crop we are behind the world level (lentil, pea dry and total pulses) due to the fact that in India the pulses are mostly grown as rainfed/dry land crops on low fertile and marginal land with low input supply. Again these are grown under climatic vagaries while in other countries pulses grown at very large scale in fertile land and with favourable growing environment.
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High yielding varieties of pulses and cereals are fertilizer responsive, but the farmers in many areas are using less fertilizer per unit cropped area than their counterparts in South and South-East Asian Countries. There is wide disparity in fertilizer use within the country also. In countries with high productivity, crops are largely grown in high input management conditions of long growing period without any stress of moisture and temperature. It is often found that rainfed crop suffered due to soil moisture stress at critical crop growth stage including drought, low diseases/pests tolerance, inadequate plant population and low nutrient status of soils, which are responsible for low productivity.
(d): The Research and Development (R&D) facilities of India in food grains and pulses are at par with International level, the Government has provided adequate financial, logistic and technical support to Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) for strategically developing improved varieties/technologies to augment production in the country.
To increase production, acreage of agricultural crops in the country, and encourage farmers, Government of India is implementing through State Governments, several Schemes/Programmes such as National Food Security Mission (NFSM), Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern India (BGREI), National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, Soil Health Card, Scheme for formation of 10,000 Farmers Producers Organisations (FPOs), better insurance coverage to crops for risk mitigation through Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and e-NAM initiative to provide farmers an electronic transparent and competitive online trading platform. Further, the latest major intervention includes the launch of Kisan rail and the ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat – Agriculture’ which includes comprehensive market reforms and creation of ‘Agricultural Infrastructure Fund (AIF)’ worth Rs. 1 lakh crores.