New Delhi, Oct 20 : The government has set the national target of food grain production at 341.55 million metric tonnes in the financial year 2024-25.

To meet the increasing demand of edible oil in the country and to become self-reliant, the government aims at increasing the production of oilseeds from 39.2 million metric tonnes (MMT) in 2022-23 to 69.7 MMT in 2030-31, increase area under cultivation from existing 29 million hectares to 33 million hectares and improve yield from 1353 kg/ha to 2112 kg/ha by 2030-31.

According to Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the country needs to move towards organic and natural farming to increase productivity and reduce dependency on chemicals and fertilisers.

'The aim is to increase per hectare yield while reducing the cost of production and offering genuine prices to the farmers.' A committee has been constituted to reduce the cost of transportation to reduce the gap between the procurement price and sale price,' said the minister at the 'National Conference on Agriculture for Rabi Campaign 2024' in the national capital.

The states, in collaboration with Centre, need to work on increasing production based on agro-climatic conditions to make India the largest food basket for the world.

'The national target of food grain production in 2024-25 will be 341.55 million tonnes,' said the minister, assuring that the government will work collaboratively on every suggestion given by the ministers and state representatives.

The conference aimed to promote discussions among all stakeholders about innovative agricultural practices and digital initiatives to ensure smooth supply of essential Agri-inputs and support adoption of state-of-the-art technologies, thereby enhancing crop production and productivity.

The conference showcased the recent agri-tech initiatives of the Ministry for ensuring quality of agri-inputs and proactive pest management strategies.

In the session on digital agriculture, the panelists deliberated on recently approved Digital Agriculture Mission, an umbrella scheme to support various Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) initiatives for agriculture and special centre assistance to states for capital investment.

/IANS