November 22, 2005

India's wheat production steadily declining

S Nagarajan, a wheat research expert and former Director of Indian Agricultural Research Institute, said India's wheat production has been declining steadily. He warned that the country might be unable to feed its 1.4 billion population estimated for 2020 as a result.

India's wheat production has fallen over the past five years from 76.37 million tonnes in 2000 to 65.1 million tonnes recently, Nagarajan said.

He estimated that India would require 109 million tonnes of wheat to feed the projected population by 2020. This meant production had to rise by at least two and a half million tonnes annually from the 2005 base level, he added.

Nagarajan feared that if the current downward trend continued, achieving the target would "remain a difficult task."

He cited reduced fertiliser use, changes in pricing policies and a slowdown in plant breeding and variety development as some factors responsible for the current decline in wheat production.