The Hindu : National : Steps to raise wheat productivity in U.P.

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Wednesday, Oct 24, 2007
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Steps to raise wheat productivity in U.P.

Special Correspondent

Move to arrest strain on national food security system

LUCKNOW: As stagnation in the productivity of wheat in Uttar Pradesh threatened to endanger the national food security system, the State government has drawn up a futuristic proposal for increasing the productivity to 30 quintal per hectare in the 2007-2008 rabi season.

Uttar Pradesh’s share of 34.71 per cent in the national wheat basket is the highest in the country, as is the State’s contribution to the national food grains basket (19.37 per cent).

At 254.44 lakh tonnes in the 2006-07 season, Uttar Pradesh is also number one in wheat production. Notwithstanding these statistics, government officials and agriculture experts are of the view that with wheat productivity virtually stagnating between 25 and 27 quintal per hectare there is a pressing need to push it up further. This was the imperative to arrest the possibility of causing a strain on the national food security system.

“Since U.P. enjoys the unenviable position in the country, stagnation in wheat productivity could endanger the food security system. To offset this possibility, a road map has been prepared for increasing the productivity to 30.9 quintal per hectare in 2007-08 from around 27 quintal per hectare in 2006-07,” said the State’s Agriculture Production Commissioner, Anis Ansari.

Though U.P.’s wheat productivity at 26.39 in 2005-06 was marginally better than the national average of 26.2, there was a mismatch between the productivity in the State and those of other big wheat producers such as Punjab and Haryana. Punjab has the highest productivity ratio at 41 quintal per hectare. This gap has been attributed to a lesser use of recommended certified seeds, fertilizers and plant protection measures in U.P. For the Uttar Pradesh government, increasing wheat productivity meant bettering the socio-economic profile of the farmers. “Not only will more jobs be created in the rural sector, there will also be a commensurate growth in the income of the farmers,” said Mr. Ansari.

Among the significant steps taken in this direction were the move to develop thermo-resistant variety of seeds which could withstand rapid fluctuation in temperature.

In February-March, the temperature becomes unusually warm which causes the crops to wilt during the milking stage. Upping the replacement rate of hybrid variety of seeds from 23 to 29 per cent in 11th Five Year Plan formed another proposal.

According to the APC, the Uttar Pradesh Government has demanded a 50 per cent subsidy on hybrid seeds from the Government of India.

Land reclamation is another thrust area. The ratio of degraded land in U.P. is around 50 lakh hectares and it has been estimated that about 25,000 to 30,000 hectares of agriculture land gets depleted every year due to urbanisation, industrialisation and other infrastructure development activities. The government has formulated the land reclamation programme in six districts in the Katri area of the Ramganga and Ganga rivers and the ravine reclamation programme in 21 districts of the State.

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