The Hindu Business Line : Meet for formulating farm sector growth plan

On agenda
Tuesday's NDC meet will take cognisance of agro-climatic conditions & technology.
States to be asked to outline a four-year plan.

New Delhi May 28 The National Development Council (NDC) meeting is being convened here on Tuesday to endorse the joint commitment of both the Centre and States to achieve four per cent annual growth in the agricultural sector during the 11th Plan (2007-12) as proposed in the Approach Paper, besides resolving to re-orient agricultural development strategies with a view to rejuvenate agriculture and allied sectors.

The 53rd NDC meeting specifically on agriculture will be presided over by the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and is to be attended by Chief Ministers/Lt.Governors of all the States and Union Territories.

Highly-placed sources in the Government told Business Line here that the one-day meeting would take some crucial calls on the report of sub-committee of NDC on agriculture, a presentation of which was made at the full Plan panel meeting on May 14, 2007, presided over by the Prime Minister.

The sources said as the gap between actual yields obtained in the field and yield that could be obtained in farm conditions using best practices varies from 40 per cent to 100 per cent, closing this gap during the 11th Plan period itself is feasible. The Prime Minister specifically referred to this point at the full Plan panel meet when he said that it was possible to have strategies that could produce results in two to three years by focusing on the extant yield gaps.

That is the reason why, the sources said, the Prime Minister directed the Plan panel to prepare the outline of a major programme for providing Central support to States which prepare suitable plans for agricultural growth based on State specific agro-climatic conditions.

Hence, Tuesday's NDC meeting would propose a scheme to spur States to draw up plans for their farm sector more comprehensively, taking cognisance of agro-climatic conditions, natural resource issues and technology into account and integrating livestock, poultry and fisheries more fully.

4-year action plan

Under the proposed strategy where each State would be asked to outline a four-year action plan identifying individual elements (such as watershed management, extension support, seed availability, horticulture development) that could contribute to achieving specific targets over this period. The mix of crops and animal husbandry activities identified and also the mix of policy interventions chosen would vary with agro-climatic requirements.

The sources said the Plan panel was of the view that the resulting strategy should be accounted "with annual phasing" with the Centre supporting the strategy through additional resources, provided the State makes a matching contribution over a base level of Plan expenditure.

The new scheme so devised would not supplant any extant Central scheme, which could all continue but a large part of the additional resources for agriculture needed in the 11th Plan could be furnished through the new scheme. If the Plan panel proposal meets with concurrence at the NDC, the Prime Minister might unveil the new scheme of Additional Central Assistance (ACA) to Agriculture in the NDC meeting tomorrow, the sources added.

Rain-fed areas

The newly created National Rain-fed Area Authority would, on request, assist States in planning for rain-fed areas, the sources said.

Besides the new scheme of ACA, the Centre might also propose to provide additional resources for irrigation through Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) including a component on modernisation, linked to adoption of improved participatory irrigation management and command area development.

The Centre might also contemplate restructuring the pattern of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) which gets its corpus from savings from credit flow below the stipulated level in agricultural lending does not get apportioned to those States from where the saving is effected. Once the amount accrues into the RIDF, its deployment is across the country and it is not in proportion to the realisation of what is due to/from individual States.

The NDC would also list out actions to be initiated by the States too in consonance with the recommendations of the NDC sub-committee on agriculture, the sources added.