Too early to predict wheat damage, says Centre

The Centre has said it is too early to predict any damage to wheat crop due to heat stress.

Replying to a query in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, said though the maximum temperature was hovering around 32-33 degree Celsius in most of the northern plains in February, it did not impact the wheat grain growth since the crop canopy temperature can be easily modulated by 2-3 degree Celsius less than the air temperature by irrigation.

For the period from March 16-22, scattered to fairly widespread light/moderate rainfall has been received over Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan due to which the maximum temperatures were near normal or below normal over these parts.

“In the current scenario, it is too early to predict any damage to the wheat crop due to heat stress,” he said.

Mango production

To a separate query on mango production, Tomar said the production has increased from 20.32 million tonnes (mt) in 2019-20 to 20.39 mt in 2020-21, and to 20.95 mt in 2021-22 (third advance estimates).

Asked if India is is the largest producer of mangoes in the world, he quoted the data from Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and said India is the largest producer of mangoes, guavas and mangosteens in the world.

The world production of mangoes, guavas and mangosteens was 57 mt in 2020-21. Of this, India alone produced 25 mt (43.9 per cent of the world production), he said.

Budget allocation

To a question on the allocation to agriculture sector in the Budget, he said the budget allocation of the Ministry of Agriculture (including DARE) and Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying is 2.92 per cent of the total budget allocation during 2023-24. The budget allocation to the agriculture sector was 3.90 per cent during 2021-22 and 3.51 per cent during 2022-23, he said.

Indo-Israel co-operation

To another question on Indo-Israel agri co-operation, the Minister mentioned that technology transfer to farmers will take place in 75 selected villages across the country through the Village of Excellence (VoE) programme.

This programme focuses on villages located near established Centres of Excellence (CoEs). The implementation will occur in phases, with the first phase covering 75 villages near 13 CoEs in eight States. The selection of these villages is based on the recommendation of the State Horticulture Mission, considering factors such as the villages’ horticultural crop majority, lack of awareness and knowledge of best cultivation practices, and the availability of established CoEs.

OBC reservation

To a query by a member on whether the Government has received legal opinion on the implementation of OBC reservation in all-India quota seats of state agricultural universities, Tomar said: “The issue of implementation of OBC reservation in All India Quota (AIQ) seats of state agricultural universities is under examination.”