The Hindu Business Line : Farm issues: Plan panel meet convened on April 18

The Prime Minister had spoken on several occasions in recent time the need to place greater accent on the expansion of area under irrigation, besides effecting a technological breakthrough to improve the productivity of dry land agriculture.

A FILE PICTURE of farmers working in a paddy field in Thanjavur district in Tamil Nadu. - M. Srinath

New Delhi April 6 A full Planning Commission meeting is being convened here on April 18 to discuss issues relating to agriculture in the wake of the persistently poor contribution of agriculture with its erratic growth over the years and the attendant woes it wrought on farmers in particular.

Official sources told Business Line here that the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, as the Planning Commission Chairman has directed the Plan panel to discuss issues pertaining to agriculture, particularly the follow-up action to be initiated on the National Farmer's Commission Report, operationalisation of the National Rainfed Authority and the National Mission on Pulses.

The sources said that the Prime Minister had spoken on several occasions in recent time the need to place greater accent on the expansion of area under irrigation, besides effecting a technological breakthrough to improve the productivity of dry land agriculture.

The Prime Minister has said that the recently established National Rainfed Area Authority would attend to these tasks on a priority basis.

Referring to the National Farmer's Commission Report, the sources said that a conference of state ministers of agriculture and allied sectors was held on December 22, 2006 to ascertain the views of state governments on the recommendations.

A system of ensuring remunerative and stable prices to farmers is important for increasing farm production and productivity in view of fluctuation in prices of agricultural produce.

Pulses output

On pulses, they said that the state-wise per acre average production of various pulses during pre-green revolution era (1963-64 and 1964-65) and at present (during 2005-06 and 2006-07) did show that the production was not showing much growth but remained stagnant with no noticeable improvement in productivity. Even though the research programmes in pulses (on Chickpea, Pigeonpea, Legumes) project were also going, increase in wheat production was felt at that time to ensure self-sufficiency in cereals.

However, in the light of recent developments when prices of pulses had shot up, the need for enhancing output and productivity through mission mode approach would be discussed at the meet. The sources said that the criticality of agriculture in rural transformation and the national economy seen along with its structural characteristics demand substantial governmental and financial sector interventions not only to ensure household food and nutritional security of the farming community but also to generate savings and investments in this grossly under-funded sector. This point is underscored in the Working Group on Agriculture for the 11th Plan, which is under study.

The Group is understood to have pointed out that the poor penetration and development of various risk management tools in the country also highlight the huge opportunities for the emerging agricultural insurance and commodity markets which will ensure that a fair share of the price goes to the producer.

Farm insurance

Though a host of private insurance companies have been operating in the domestic insurance market since October 2000, two have been pioneering work in agricultural insurance chiefly by way of introduction of weather insurance products.

The issue of private sector involvement in agricultural insurance might be addressed by means of the system of coinsurance in the order - the AIC might be a lead insurer with underwriting capabilities and contacts with multiple agencies and private insurance companies taking shares according to their capability.

The Group is stated to have plumped for the establishment of a centre for risk management in agriculture in public-private partnership mode for research, capacity-building and popularising risk management solutions in agriculture.