Pungent mix-up: ‘Garlic boom’ is data error, says MP Govt

Garlic output has approximately doubled in the previous 4 several years in India and greater shut to five times in Madhya Pradesh, according to info positioned by Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar in Parliament previous 7 days. Even so, it has been learnt that the Madhya Pradesh federal government has educated the Centre that there was no these kinds of enhance and blamed the misunderstanding on possible “data error”.

In reply to a issue from Lok Sabha MPs Gautham Sigamani Pon and CN Annadurai (each from DMK), Tomar, who incidentally hails from MP, explained that Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab and Assam are major garlic creating States, as per the 3rd avanced estimates of 2020-21 he also put the point out-clever area and output facts in the Residence.

“The mistake in area and generation information of 2017-18 was communicated by the Point out authorities to Countrywide Horticulture Board a lot previously and it is unlucky that they have not corrected it,” mentioned a resource in the State federal government. For 2017-18, the Condition governing administration estimated the garlic region at 1.86 lakh hectares whilst the Centre place it at 92,500 hectares. Likewise, production was 18.83 lakh tonnes, as per Point out info, whilst the Centre has put it at 4.05 lakh tonnes.

In accordance to the Condition knowledge, 7 big districts — Dewas, Dhar, Indore, Mandsaur, Neemuch, Ratlam and Ujjain, every with much more than 10,000 hectares underneath garlic — together created 14.5 lakh tonnes in 2020, which is 73 for every cent of the overall output of Madhya Pradesh. Whilst the output has amplified from the 2017 degree in just about every of them, only Neemuch (top manufacturing district) confronted a decrease of 36 for every cent due to a slide in space.

Import issues

More than the past couple several years, import of garlic has been soaring even though export has been falling, barring some exceptions. Imports in the 2020-21 fiscal was at 7,473.40 tonnes (valued at ₹33.82 crore), the maximum in 15 many years. The former large was 20,409.20 tonnes in 2004-05, official data clearly show.

Exports of refreshing and/or chilled garlic, on the other hand, following halving in 2014-15, began to rise and touched 23,547.25 tonnes in 2016-17, in advance of declining once again. Abroad shipments touched 4,497.93 tonnes for the duration of 2020-21, implying the region grew to become a web importer that yr. The nation experienced a report 34,170.27 tonnes of exports in 2012-13.

“There is nothing at all mistaken if both export and import carry on at the same time but the quantity matters and for garlic, the state simply cannot manage to depend on some others,” reported an agriculture scientist. But AK Singh, deputy director general (horticulture) of Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), reported there is substantially recognition about horticulture technologies amid the new generation of farmers, who have been working with drip irrigation in districts like Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh.

“The desire for high-value crops like garlic has absent up as a lot more and far more men and women are finding wellness-acutely aware. Farmers are shifting to garlic from crops like wheat and barley. Also, the net earnings realisation in garlic is larger in contrast to standard crops,” Singh reported.

Released on


February 16, 2022