‘No slowdown in agriculture sector’
The data provided were based on crop estimates until August 2017. The monsoon had a poor start but later picked up. The picture changed in December.
RADHA MOHAN SINGH, agriculture minister
NEWDELHI: Agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh on Sunday said there wouldn’t be a sharp slowdown in the agriculture sector, despite such a forecast by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), because farm activity had picked up in later months that couldn't be captured by the initial data.
“The data provided to the CSO were based on crop estimates until August 2017. The monsoon had a poor start but later picked up. The picture changed in December, when we saw considerable i mprovement,” Singh told HT. “So, when revised estimates will come, growth in the agriculture sector will be more or less equal to last year’s,” Singh said.
Last year, farmer protests had broken out in many states, particularly in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh, following a crash in prices that hurt rural incomes, posing a political challenge for the Modi government.
According to latest estimates released on Friday by the CSO, India’s overall economy is projected to grow at 6.5% in 2017-18, the slowest pace in four years and down from 7.1% in the previous year.
The slowdown is mainly being attributed to disruptions caused by demonetisation and implementation of the goods and services tax (GST).
The estimates also showed that the growth in the agriculture sector – critical because it supports nearly half of the population — slowed to 2.1% in the current financial year, compared to 4.9% in the previous year. Despite relatively poorer rainfall, the area coverage under summer crops finally rose to 106.55 million hectares, against a five-year average of 105.86 million hectares, the farm ministry statement said.
“The ministry of agriculture is of the opinion that the lower coverage of area by August, 2017 on account of delayed onset of monsoon has caused a poor reflection compared to the actual situation by December 2017,” the statement said.
The “gross value added” estimate is bound to get corrected upwards if the increased croparea coverage in December 2017 and higher output estimates in foodgrains, oilseeds and commercial crops are taken into account, it said.