New Delhi, May 28
Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today identified increasing agricultural productivity and enhancing the credit flow to the farmers among his priorities.
Talking to mediapersons here, Mr Pawar indicated that eminent agriculture scientist Dr M.S. Swaminathan would be appointed Chairman of the National Commission on Farmers. “I have already sounded him (Mr Swaminathan) about the new appointment,” Mr Pawar said.
He said the Commission on Farmers was being reorganised with induction of more members. The scope of the Commission would also be widened. The Commission was set up by the NDA government earlier this year to prepare a roadmap for sustainable development of agriculture.
Mr Pawar ruled out import of sugar in view of a comfortable stock position in the country but said sick units would be allowed to import raw sugar for exporting it after processing. He did not favour export of foodgrains from the central pool this year despite the surplus. The estimated stock of wheat at 200 lakh tonnes and rice at 130 lakh tonnes as on July 1, 2004, would be much above the buffer stock requirements.
Strongly advocating reforms in all segments of agriculture, Mr Pawar said the government will take up with Nabard its plans to double the rural credit in the next three years.
Mr Pawar laid stress on strengthening the public distribution system (PDS), lifting restrictions on agri-marketing and freeing agricultural research from bureaucratic controls. The target is to increase the foodgrain production to 300 million tonnes by 2011 from the current 212 million tonnes, he said.
“We will discuss with RBI and Nabard the ways to expand the coverage of rural credit,” he said.
Laying stress on increasing average land yield, Mr Pawar said agriculture would be made globally competitive and cost effective.
Efforts would be made to improve the germ plasm of the milch animals for better yield, he said.
Mr Pawar said that a scheme would soon be in place to enable the defaulting farmers to access credit facilities for purchasing seed and fertiliser.
In the horticulture sector, production would be increased from 200 million tonnes to 300 million tonnes with emphasis on promoting the processing of the produce.
He said more emphasis would be given to the production of the organic food which is in great demand in the West. A holistic approach will be adopted for development of new varieties of crops which require less water.
The Minister said the states would be involved in steps to improve agricultural marketing.
The country would go for a capacity building in bio-technology, he said.
The Minister said wheat and rice procurement would be decentralised with more involvement of state governments.
