The Hindu Business Line : Farm crisis a big challenge: Pawar

THE UNION AGRICULTURE MINISTER, Mr Sharad Pawar, and the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, examine the farm produce at the second National Conference on the Krishi Vigyan Kendras in Acharya NG Ranga Agri University in Hyderabad on Sunday . At middle is the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Dr S. Raghuvardhan Reddy. - P.V. Sivakumar

Hyderabad , Nov. 26

The Union Minister for Agriculture, Food and Public Distribution, Mr Sharad Pawar, has said that the country was in a serious agrarian crisis threatening food security.

"This is the first year that we are forced to import 5.5 million tonnes of wheat to resolve the food security problem," he said.

Delivering the inaugural address at the second national conference on Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) here on Sunday, Mr Pawar said prices of essential commodities have gone up significantly. "We are also forced to import pulses and oil seeds in a big way," he said.

This had emerged as a big challenge for the country. "The country, which has successfully resolved the problem of food security and which has been exporting to 15-16 countries, is now importing," he said.

"Time has come to concentrate on agriculture in a big way to make the farmers improve productivity," he said.

water scarcity

Quoting international estimations, he said about 22 million hectares of irrigated rice areas in Asia might face `economic water scarcity' as supplies for irrigation has become too expensive for rice farmers. "An additional 17 million hectares may confront physical water scarcity as supplies for irrigation would simply dry up," he said.

Stating that agricultural growth was essential for achieving 8-10 per cent growth rates in gross domestic product, he said investments were dwindling in agriculture in the last two decades.

This was causing adverse impact on the creation of infrastructure and long-term growth of farm output.

The Ministry would sanction 49 more KVKs in the next six months. This would complete the KVK coverage for all the 589 rural districts.

The third edition of the conference on KVK would be held at Pantnagar in Uttaranchal.

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Farm crisis a big challenge: Pawar