India needs better productivity to make up for losses

India needs to increase its summer output of oilseeds and pulses to make up for an anticipated sharp fall in winter production because of poor rains, a senior government official said on Friday.
Despite monsoon showers, vital for largely urinated crop fields in India, the June-September south-west monsoon has followed an erratic course. Most of July, the most crucial month for sowing crops, remained dry.
In many instances, areas sown after showers were damaged by long dry spells and had to be re-sown with alternative crops.
The country's rice output is likely to fall up to 5 percent this year from 87 million tonnes a year while winter oilseeds output could dip to 11-12 million tonnes from 13.9 million tonnes in the previous year.
Rice, oilseeds, cotton, sugarcane and coarse cereals are among the major winter crops sown in July and harvested in November and December.