• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager
• Smartbuy

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Dr M.S. Swaminathan

Our Bureau

Chennai, Aug. 25 The minimum support price offered by the Government to farmers must cover their costs and offer at least 50 per cent more as against the current levels of 15 per cent above cost price, Prof M.S. Swaminathan, Scientist and Chairman of National Commission on farmers, said on Monday. He was delivering the Third Tarakeswar Chakraborti Memorial Lecture organised by the All India Bank Employees Association in association with the University of Madras.

Prof Swaminathan called for an evergreen agricultural revolution that would increase productivity in perpetuity without associated ecological harm through use of organic agriculture as well as conservation farming with the help of integrated pest management, nutrient supply and natural resource management systems.

Tracing the various steps undertaken by different governments over the past few decades, he underscored the critical importance of agriculture, stating “we can’t live happily as islands in a sea of misery”. Calling farmers the guardians of national food security, he said that it was their efforts that had enabled the country to have a buffer of about 25 million tonnes of wheat and 30 million tonnes of rice.

Referring to the growth rate in agricultural credit in the last few years (after 2000) he said it originated primarily from a growth in indirect finance to agriculture i.e. credit given to institutions and organisations that contribute to agriculture but not the credit given directly to agriculturists.

Between 2001 and 2006, direct finance to agriculture grew at 17.4 per cent but indirect finance grew by 33 per cent, he said. Even in the case of direct finance, the major rise in direct advances happened where the credit limit was more than Rs 1 crore.

The most important beneficiaries of the increase in direct advances since the late 1990s were the big cultivators, he said. He pointed out that hardly 2 to 3 per cent of the kisan credit cards were issued to women because they did not have pattas (land title deeds).

Calling for expanding the scope of agricultural insurance policies, he noted that in the case of many farmers who had committed suicides, about 30 per cent of the loans taken had gone towards paying for doctors’ fees and medicines.

More Stories on : Agriculture | Farm credit | Events

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line