The Hindu Business Line : ‘Agriculture needs SWOT analysis for reforms’

Hyderabad, March 14 Mr Sompal Singh Shastri, Vice-Chairman of State Planning Commission of Madhya Pradesh, has called for SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis of Indian agriculture.

“All the stakeholders should take part in this analysis and work out a strategy with a timeframe to take up issues like institutional reforms,” he said.

Delivering the special address on ‘Strategies for India to become an agriculture superpower’ at the Agri Vision 2008 seminar here on Friday, he called for a new policy to ensure allotment of wasteland to people, including corporates, who could make it productive. The two-day conference is being organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Policy considerations

Stating that he had changed his stance on allocating land to corporates, he said big investors would have the strength to invest and await long gestation periods.

The policy should also allow for allocation of degenerated forest land, converting it for productive use.

On acquiring land for private projects, he strongly advocated against the Government’s intervention. “Let the land find its market and price,” he said.

He said pressure on land had gone up tremendously as 65 per cent of the 1.1-billion population depended on agriculture, as against the 75 per cent of 300 million when the country won freedom.

He also decried the woefully low capital formation in agriculture that supported a majority of the population and contributed 8-10 per cent of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and exports. “It gets just 1.3 per cent of GDP,” he pointed out.

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