As per the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), major crop production in India is expected to fall by 0.5% in the year 2012-2013, mainly due to a fall in output of non-food crops like soyabean, cotton and rapeseed. The cotton production is expected to fall by 7.8% to 32.2 million bales in 2012-13 even though its acreage has been raised to 12% to 29.3 lakh hectares by June.
The weak precipitation has affected the kharif cultivation of foodgrains and oilseeds. Moreover, an estimated growth in production of livestock, forestry and fisheries, along with 4% jump in output of minor crops, will help to boost the growth of agriculture sector to 2.4% in 2012-13.
However, in order to strengthen the cultivation of foodgrains and oilseeds, the centre had declared a sharp increase in their Minimum Support Price (MSP) last month.