Drought Likely To Hurt India's Agricultural Output

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India's agricultural output would likely be hurt, if the current drought situation prolongs till September, PTI reported. Quoting Swapan Kumar Datta, Deputy Director General (Crop Science) of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the report added that if the situation persists through September, it would affect seed availability. Two hundred and forty-six districts across the country have been declared drought hit.

Datta said that the farmers should be given breeder seeds directly instead of the certified ones for the next season to lessen the adverse impact of the drought. He stressed the need to enhance the production of oil seeds and pulses to become self sufficient in future.

He also said that a seed project was launched by ICAR to provide adequate and uniform availability of quality seeds to farmers. Adding that India produces enough breeder seeds, of which only 20% get certified for distribution among farmers, Datta said the wide gap between the breeder seeds and certified seeds need to be addressed.

However, Asit Mandal, Mau Project Director of the Directorate of Seed Research said the country produces only 25% of its seed requirement.

(Market News Provided by RTTNews)