While drought-like situation hits agriculture sector, state GDP maintains pace at 7.5%
With almost 151 tehsils across Maharashtra reeling under a drought-like situation due to scanty and uneven rains, the agriculture and allied production activities took a massive hit over the last year. While agriculture has grown by a paltry 0.4% in 2018-19 against the 3.1% in the previous year, crop production slipped to (-) 8% against a 0.8% growth last year, according to the Economic Survey 2018-19 that was tabled by state finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar in the Assembly on Monday.
The survey has revealed some more worrisome pain points. Due to the reduction of area under rabi crops, the production of cereals has dipped by 6% and pulses by 35%. The area under rabi crops has shrunk to 33.83 lakh hectare, 50% less compared to the previous year, primarily due to deficit rainfall in September and October 2018.
More importantly, the area under horticulture crops has shrunk from 17.22 lakh hectare to 16.43 lakh hectare, that has triggered a dip in production from 248.53 lakh tonnes to 224.17 lakh tonnes. Nearly 268 revenue circles received less than 75% rainfall i.e. less than 750 mm of total rainfall.
The silver lining is the growth in forestry and logging (up 16.4% against 8.1%), while livestock grew 13.9% (against 8.5%). Fishing and aquaculture reported 3.4% growth against the negative growth of (minus) 11.7%.
Sushil Jiwarajka, President, Infrastructure and Logistics Federation of India told DNA, "The worrying aspect is that the agriculture sector has grown at a meagre rate of 0.4%. Serious steps will have to be taken on an urgent basis to address the agrarian crisis and the impending drought." He suggested that on the consumption side, the government needs to promote alternate cash crops that require the least amount of water, while on the supply side, the interlinking of rivers and building of dams and canals to harness rainwater should be undertaken.
However, despite the fall in many agriculture indicators, Maharashtra has maintained the pace of growth in its gross state domestic product (GSDP) at 7.5% for 2018-19, keeping at par with the growth rate registered in 2017-18.
According to the survey, the growth in the state's GDP is higher than the growth of the Indian economy at 6.8%. The nominal GSDP stands at Rs 26.6 lakh crore in 2018-19, higher by 10.3% over the previous year.
The slump in the economy has also impacted the industry sector's growth that has dipped to 6.9%, down from 7.6% in the previous year. The construction sector, however, seems to have weathered the slowdown to register a growth of 9.9% against 7.9%.
Interestingly, the services sector grew at 9.2% as against 8.1% that accounts for 10.6% growth in defence and other services, a record 9.4% increase in financial real estate and professional services, an 8.1% rise in trade, hotels and restaurants, transport storage, communication and services related to broadcasting.
Mungantiwar also said that Maharashtra's per capita income (PCI) grew at Rs 1,91,827 in 2018-19 as against Rs 1,76,102 in 2017-18. The state's PCI was ranked third after Karnataka at Rs 2,07,062 and Telangana at Rs 2,06,
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