Food production declines due to area reduction, less rainfall

CHENNAI: The area and production of food grains, which had been on the rise for the last 4 years, has declined in 2022-2023.

According to the policy note of the State Planning, Development and Special Initiatives department, tabled in the Assembly on Wednesday, Tamil Nadu’s overall food grain production has decreased to 116.91 lakh tonnes in 2022-2023, from 119.98 lakh tonnes in 2021-2022.

Going by the data, as compared to 2021-2022, total rainfall decreased by 16.1 per cent in 2022-2023, food grain area shrank by 2.6 per cent and food grain production decreased by 2.5 per cent.

“Food grain area and production are calculated every year by evaluating land use, sources of irrigation, area under irrigated and non-irrigated crops, production and production rate, district wise food crop, non-food crop area,” the policy note said.

While the food grain area was 34.96 lakh hectares and production was 103.90 lakh tonnes in 2018-2019, the area increased to 36.92 lakh hectares and production was 115.02 lakh tonnes in the year 2019-2020.

Subsequently, food grain area increased to 38.20 lakh hectares and production decreased to 108.24 lakh tonnes in 2020-21.

In 2021-22, the food grain area increased to 39.74 lakh hectares and the production also increased to 119.98 lakh tonnes. However, in the last year 2022-23, the food grain area decreased to 38.74 lakh hectares and the production also decreased to 116.91 lakh tonnes.

According to the statistics, available with the Planning, Development and Special Initiatives department, there has been a decline in production due to reduction in cultivated area and less rainfall.

Similarly, the production of horticultural crops such as tomatoes, an essential commodity, is decreasing every year. Tomato production in 2020-21 was 9,35,194 tonnes and in 2021-22, it decreased to 8,15,479 tonnes and in 2022-23 to 7,94,330 tonnes.

However, production of other horticultural crops such as grapes, guava and lemon has continued to increase, the data read. But, production of Okra (Lady’s finger), Brinjal, Orange, Pineapple and Sweet potatoes continues to decline. The production of Okra has decreased from 2,04,166 tonnes in 2020-21 to 1,84,539 tonnes in 2021-22 and 1,58,579 tonnes in 2022-23.

In terms of minority crops, the production of chilli, onion, turmeric, potato, coriander leaves and cashew has increased significantly in 2022-23 as compared to 2020-21.

But, due to the different conditions prevailing in the production of cassava and ginger, the production figures fluctuate. “Due to the climate change, unprecedented rainfall, extreme heat, lack of irrigation for cultivation at the right time or floods during the harvest time, there has been a fluctuation in the cultivation area and production in the last two years,” the note said.