THE issue posed before the State Food Ministers' conference convened by the Union Food and Agriculture Ministry on August 19 was that of 'the formidable problems of plenty. To coincide with the conference were published the All-India Final Estimates of Foodgrains Production in 1970-71 which showed that foodgrains production had registered an increase of 8.31 million tonnes or 8.4 per cent during the year. For wheat 1970-71 was a record year, the fourth one in succession, with production at 23,2 million tonnes which almost touches the Fourth Plan target of 24 million tonnes for 1973-74. In the case of rice, the increase was of the order of 5.7 per cent, in spite of a decrease in area by 0,7 per cent over the previous year Production of bajra also showed an impressive rise.