Anticipating sufficient monsoon rains in the parched state, Rajasthan has set a production target of 136 lakh ton for kharif crops this year, a state government official said on Tuesday.
Preparation are afoot for sowing of crops, including bajra, jowar, guar and pulses, in 154 lakh hectares of rainfed areas to raise the production to 136 lakh ton this year against 131.01 lakh ton last year, D B Gupta, Principal Secretary (Agriculture) said.
Under kharif crop campaign being under way from May 27, so far over 29,000 farmers attended the camps and received mini kits of seeds, soil health card, samples, fertilisers, bio-fertilisers, kisan credit cards, and animal husbandry related facilities at the extension services, Gupta, who is
monitoring the programme, said.
Quoting joint statistics of revenue and agriculture departments, Gupta said Rajasthan's total rabi (winter) crop production early this year declined to 281.71 lakh ton from 311.14 lakh ton in 2012.
Of this, wheat production was 94.36 lakh ton this year against 101.60 lakh ton last year, Gupta said. Wheat production in rabi season declined due to low soil moisture content as there were insignificant winter rains, he said.
Besides wheat, production of mustard increased to 34.54 lakh ton as against 29.54 lakh ton in the last rabi season while gram and pulses also observed upward trend at 12.93 lakh ton, and 19.17 lakh tonn respectively early this year (2013), he said.
Since most of area is rainfed, the seed sowing area required to be balanced as per the previous crop targets, the secretary said. Rajasthan's share in agriculture included 40 per cent bajra, 46 per cent mustard, 40 per cent cumin, 65 per cent coriander, 80 per cent guar, and 80 per cent isabgoal, Joint Director Planning J S Sandhu said.
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