By IANS
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday expressed hope that the Indian farm sector will expand by four percent in the next five years even as he called for targeted measures to address livelihood and food security.
“The slowing down of agricultural growth to less than two percent per annum since late 1990s has undoubtedly been the root cause of much of the rural distress,” the prime minister told a meeting of the National Development Council (NDC) here.
“I am happy to say we have already taken several steps to restore momentum to this sector,” he said, adding: “With these measures, we hope that we will be able to sustain the desired growth rate of four percent in agriculture.”
The prime minister told the NDC meeting, which is meeting to give its nod to the Rs.36.44 trillion 11th Five Year Plan, that along with farm growth it was also important to address the impending problem of food security.
“The next decade is going to be one in which our food security will be under stress,” he said, adding India needed to focus on enhancing productivity since it has the second largest arable area in the world.
“Global trends in food production and prices and our own patterns of consumption are going to put increasing pressure on both availability and prices of basic food items.”
In this context, he also emphasised a paradigm shift on how the country manages its food stocks and the government’s own procurement strategies, even as a need may arise to consider buffers for edible oils and lentils.
“We probably need to realise that we are going to be importers of some food items for many years and take steps to manage this in a structured manner,” he said, adding food doles are targeted at the needy and leakages needed to be arrested.
The 54th NDC meeting comes in the backdrop of the Indian economy registering a growth of over 7.5 percent during the 10th plan, with the target of scaling it up to over nine percent in the ensuing five years.
Chief ministers, lieutenant governors, some key ministers of the union cabinet and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia were among those attending the day-long meeting at the Vigyan Bhavan convention centre here.