By IANS
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday announced a Rs.250 billion package for agriculture that aims to boost the growth rate of the sector and put Indian economy on the path to a 10 percent growth.
In his closing remarks at the 53rd meeting of the National Development Council (NDC) attended by chief ministers, Manmhan Singh said the agriculture plan for states should be comprehensive with both immediate and medium-term objectives of four to five years.
He said the Planning Commission and the ministry of agriculture will finalise the details of this scheme in two months and hoped the states would make full use of this opportunity.
This package came as a follow-up to the resolution adopted by the NDC, which said: "Agricultural development strategies must be reoriented to meet the needs of the farmers."
The prime minister said the central government will be initiating steps to launch a Food Security Mission in the coming months to reduce dependence on import of basic food items that will help the country increase the production of wheat, lentils and edible oils.
The proposed scheme aims at producing an additional 8 million tonnes of wheat, 10 million tonnes of rice and 2 million tonnes of pulses over the next four years, using 2006-07 as the base year.
With most chief ministers stressing on irrigation and the need for more funding, Manmohan Singh said the Planning Commission will certainly look into this and finalise an approach for utilizing the irrigation potential effectively and efficiently.
Expressing grave concern over the tardy growth of the farm sector, he also called for overcoming the "technology fatigue".
"One feature that stands out is the lack of any breakthroughs in agricultural production technology in recent years. There is a technology fatigue which we need to address," he said in his opening remarks at the meet.
Unless the farm sector grows at desired levels, the 10 percent economic growth targeted for the 11th plan (2007-08 to 2012-13) would remain elusive, he said.
The prime minister said steps should also be taken to make farming a viable proposition, adding that the same cannot be achieved unless there is a shift away from small and marginal farming.
The prime minister said the state governments also needed to specifically focus on reducing what he called was a yield-gap in farm output since there still existed the potential to increase productivity by 40-100 percent.
"Bridging these gaps requires localised and state-specific strategies based on local agro-climatic conditions and constraints," he said, adding this issue was all the more important since the scope for expanding crop area was limited.
The prime minister said the mantra for his government was inclusive growth and to ensure that growth benefits all sections of society and helps in reducing rural distress and poverty.
The meeting of NDC was specifically called to address issues concerning the farm and allied sectors. It comes after a similar meeting of the Planning Commission he chaired earlier this month.
The meeting also focused on the need for special efforts to complete all projects taken up under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programmes without time and cost overrun and prioritise irrigation projects.