State may not exceed grain production target

Tamil Nadu’s meals grain production for 2020-21 is not prone to exceed the target of 125 lakh tonnes. Officials of the Agriculture Department attribute the potential under-performance to the adversarial affect of Cyclones Nivar and Burevi, which struck the State in November and December final yr, and the unseasonal rain in February this yr.

According to information compiled after the second estimate, the general determine is 108.26 lakh tonnes. The third estimate figures, that are prone to come out by September, will embrace the production achieved by means of crops which were planted after the Samba season and are anticipated to be harvested within the coming months.

For 2019-20, the determine went up from 101.02 lakh tonnes (after the second estimate) to 115.02 lakh tonnes (after the third). If the same sample happens, the tally may contact round 120 lakh tonnes.

But for the pure calamities, the production would have exceeded the target as a result of, by way of space below paddy, the State had exceeded the target by about 3.75 lakh hectares, the officers mentioned. Compared with the focused 16.515 lakh hectares, the protection was 20.256 lakh hectares. This was practically 1.3 lakh hectares greater than what was recorded throughout 2019-20. As for the full meals grains, together with millets and pulses, 38.33 lakh hectares have been lined as in opposition to the target of 37.75 lakh hectares. Again, this was round 1.66 lakh hectares increased than the 2019-20 determine.

Meanwhile, the State stood on high for the second yr in succession in micro-irrigation protection. Under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY), it achieved protection of about 2.14 lakh hectares throughout 2020-21 with an expenditure of ₹1,314 crore, together with the State’s share, mentioned a senior official monitoring the implementation of the scheme geared toward selling the “more crop per drop” idea.

According to the PMKSY web site maintained by the Central Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, the full protection nationwide final yr was round 6.48 lakh hectares, accounting for 68.45% of the target.

Tamil Nadu may cowl solely about 71% of the target of three lakh hectares. The official, whereas explaining the rationale, identified that whereas figuring out the target for Tamil Nadu, the Union authorities authorities had fastened a larger space below drip irrigation than what was assigned for sprinkler. Of the assigned space, 70% was earmarked for drip and the remainder for sprinkler.

At the top of the yr, the State had exceeded the target for sprinkler by about 5,000 hectares (roughly 95,434 hectares). But its efficiency in drip irrigation was about 56%, with round 1.19 lakh hectares lined.

The adversarial affect of COVID-19 was a purpose for the under-performance.