The Hindu Business Line : Foodgrains output will top 212 m tonnes: Pawar

THE Government on Wednesday asserted that the country's foodgrain output would surpass last year's level of 212 million tonnes, the deficit rainfall notwithstanding.

Addressing the Economic Editors' Conference here, the Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar, said the total production would be higher than last year's due to good prospects for the rabi crops.

"We will exceed last year's foodgrain production by realising better production during the rabi season. There will be no problem," he said.

Foodgrain production during kharif has been estimated lower at 100.29 million tonnes against 112.04 million tonnes during last kharif. Rabi production last year was 100.01 million tonnes and the Government is of the view that late rains will help better sowing during rabi. The Agriculture Ministry is targeting 115 million tonnes foodgrain output during rabi.

Explaining the initiatives taken by the Government to enhance agricultural output, the Minister said a step in this endeavour was a proposal to introduce the Seed Bill, 2004, which will be the revised version of the Seed Act, 1966.

In the proposed Bill, the Government plans to bring in more provisions for liberalising the climate for investment by the private sector, strengthen the farmers' rights and address their concerns. The new Bill seeks to accredit private organisations to conduct agronomic trials and allow accreditation of private seed testing laboratories, besides containing penal provisions for spurious seed manufacturers.

Yet another focus area of the Government, Mr Pawar said, was decentralisation of procurement under which State Governments had been encouraged to take up procurement of foodgrains to help the local farmers in getting remunerative prices and reducing the States' dependence on the Food Corporation of India (FCI) for their PDS requirements.

The Government, he said, was committed to setting up huge capacity rural godowns to facilitate adequate availability of foodgrain to help poor farmers.

Stating that the Government had laid special emphasis on agriculture, Mr Pawar said: "We are making all-out efforts to not only strengthen the agriculture sector but also fuel growth in ancillary sectors like animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries."

He said efforts had been made to not only enhance budgetary support in the agriculture sector, but also create an environment wherein private investors will find it `worthwhile' to put money in the sector.

The Minister said the Government was also going ahead with the Rs 15,000-crore horticulture mission to prevent wastage of fruits and vegetables by encouraging value addition to fetch higher prices in the market. The Government had plans to create storage capacity of 32 lakh tonnes in the rural areas during the remaining three years of the Tenth Plan period with a Central outlay of Rs 115 crore.