India: Poor Rabi Threatens Grains
20 February 2008 India’s Agriculture Ministry is projecting overall grain output in the country to grow by a smaller-than-anticipated 0.9% rate to 219.32 million tons, reports the US Dept. of Agriculture’s Foreign Agriculture Service (USDA-FAS).
The slowed growth is due to lower grain output in the current rabi (winter) season, which is anticipated to fall by 3.1% vs. last season. However, the Agricultural Secretary has stated that these were conservative projections, and the situation may change if wheat output turns out to be better than last year.
Additionally, the final production will depend upon climatic conditions through the end of March.
The output of rice from both the kharif and rabi seasons is projected to be the highest ever at 9.1 million tons. The output of oilseeds is forecast to grow by 11.8% in 2007/08 compared to 2006/07.
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