The Government is expected to continue with its export policy on agricultural commodities such as rice, wheat and sugar, the Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar, said here on Wednesday.
“We are against a switch-on, switch-off policy on exports. The current export policy will continue and I don’t see any problem,” Pawar told reporters.
Reduced rain deficit
Though the revival of monsoon has reduced the rain deficit to around 8 per cent for the season, the output of pulses, coarse cereals and cereals is likely to be affected.
“Production is unlikely to be at last year’s level, but we have enough stocks of rice, wheat and sugar,” he said.
The country has exported over 1.5 million tonnes of wheat, over 4 million tonnes of non-basmati rice and around 3.5 million tonnes of sugar.
The revival of monsoon, which has helped improve soil moisture, should augur well for the forthcoming rabi season.
As of September 10, the rain deficit has declined to 8 per cent and the water level in major reservoirs, except in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Tripura, has improved. “About 71 per cent of the country’s area has received normal rains, while the balance 29 per cent is deficient,” Pawar said, citing Indian Metrological Department data. “There is a significant improvement in kharif sowing in the past few days and the gap in acreage compared with last year now stands reduced to 9 lakh hectares,” Pawar said.
EGoM on drought
In a bid to help drought-affected States such as Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat to implement relief measures, the Empowered Group of Ministers have decided to increase the number of mandals under the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme to 150 from the present 100.
Also, the EGoM has decided to reduce interest rates on rescheduled crop loans to 7 per cent from 12 per cent for this fiscal, Pawar said.
Besides, he said the Centre and State would provide interest subvention of Rs 261 crore under a Nabard scheme to save horticulture crops in drought-affected States.