The Hindu Business Line : Make farming profitable: Swaminathan

The objective of policy-makers and others in the field of agriculture should be to make farming profitable and remunerative rather than focussing on production and productivity alone, said Dr M.S. Swaminathan, noted agricultural scientist.

He was addressing the annual conference of the Indian Society of Agricultural Economics here on Friday.

All along the thrust was on agricultural production and for the first time the government had introduced in November last a national policy for farmers.

“Concentrate on the income of farmers and productivity will take care of itself,” he said.

NREP result

He said the impact of the National Rural Employment Programme on malnourishment would be known by 2011. He called for using the Rs 25,000-crore Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana to improve productivity in dry farming by going in for planning at the district-level.

Mr K.C. Reddy, Chairman of AP State Council of Higher Education, wanted agriculturally relevant education to provide employment opportunities for rural youth.

Mr S.S. Johl, president of ISAE, said the conference would focus on quality horticulture production, overexploitation of the water table and problem areas in rain-fed farming.

Mr Mangal Roy, the Director-General of the Indian Council for Agricultural Research, Andhra University Vice-Chancellor B. Satyanarayana and others spoke.

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Make farming profitable: Swaminathan

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