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HYDERABAD: The state is set to see a steep increase in the prices of essential commodities as the food grain production from the kharif crops has fallen much below the expectations and the rabi crops hold no better hope either.
Food grains from the kharif crop has already entered the market and will continue till the end of March. "Because of the kharif crop, the prices of some essential commodities have fallen to a certain extent. But with the yield being far from the estimates, the prices will shoot up again by April," official sources said.
According to the data gathered by the department of agriculture production, there was no crop which was not affected by adverse seasonal conditions like drought and floods in the state in 2009-10. While the drought brought down the area under crops, the floods destroyed the standing crops in several districts.
In the kharif season, the total food grain production has come down to 72.96 lakh tonnes from a record 105.62 lakh tonnes in 2008. This is 14.14 lakh tonnes short of the normal yield of 97.10 lakh tonnes for the season. The only crop unaffected was cotton which recorded a production (34.98 lakh bales) to equal the previous year's 35.69 lakh bales.
Sources in the department said the production of rice is estimated to be 57.88 lakh tonnes in this kharif, which is far below the normal production of 72.58 tonnes for the season. The production in the previous year was 83.80 lakh tonnes. A shortfall of 14.70 lakh tonnes means a huge gap in the demand and supply which is bound to push the prices upwards, said the sources said.
There is not much good news even with the rabi crop as only 40.72 lakh tonnes of rice is expected yield, a far cry from the 58.61 lakh tonnes that was produced in the last rabi. In the past 18 years, only twice, i.e in 2002-03 and 2003-04, did the production fall below normal. The rice production in 2002-03 was just 50.54 lakh tonnes, while for the year 2003-04, it was 58.42 lakh tonnes. Among the other kharif food crops, maize also has been hit adversely with the production coming down to a mere 9.73 lakh tonnes in 2009-10 from 15.67 lakh tonnes last season. The normal production is 17.13 lakh tonnes. Coarse grains, pulses and chillies also have been hit badly in 2009. The production of coarse cereals is estimated at 12.38 lakh tonnes this kharif, which is 8.17 lakh tonnes below the normal production of 20.65 lakh tonnes. As for the pulses, the shortfall is 1.17 lakh tonnes.
The oil seed production suffered a 50 per cent loss in the state. The yield is just 6.49 lakh tonnes while the normal production is 13.48 lakh tonnes. The production in 2008 was 12.40 lakh tonnes.
Chillies and sugarcane also recorded a drastic fall this kharif. While the chilli production recorded a marginal fall, sugarcane was badly hit with the production declining from 153.80 lakh tonnes in 2008 to 122.71 lakh tonnes in 2009. This rabi, the total food grain production is estimated to be 71.33 lakh tonnes, as against 98.59 lakh tonnes last season.
"Thanks to the shortfall and expected hoarding by unscrupulous traders, brace up for rise and further rise in the prices of essential commodities in the coming months," one official said.
07 March, 2010 by admin