NEW DELHI: Cultivable land in the country has marginally declined but the trend of increasing agricultural production is still expected to continue, the government today said.Replying to a question in Rajya Sabha, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said that cultivable land in the country has marginally declined from 182.7 million hectares in 2005-06 to 182 million in 2012-13.The decline in agricultural land has been mainly due to diversion for non-agricultural purposes such as urbanisation, roads, industries and housing, he said.The Minister mentioned various government initiatives like those on irrigation and soil health and said that as result, agricultural production in the country has been showing an increasing trend except in years affected by floods, droughts and other natural calamities."Despite marginal reduction in cultivable land the above trend is expected to continue in future," Singh.One of the members wanted to know that if agricultural production was showing an increasing trend, what were the reasons of distress among farmers as there have been a number of cases of suicides.Singh replied that one of the reasons is that cost of production is more while the produce may not fetch a good price.