The Hindu Business Line : Farmers will benefit from Centre’s package: Pawar

Pune, Aug. 19 The Union Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar said farmers will soon see the benefits of Government’s Rs 25,000 crore package for agriculture.

Speaking at the 47th Convention of Maharashtra State Grape Growers Association, Mr Pawar said one of the goals of the new agricultural policy was to bring at least 40 per cent of the farm land under irrigation in the States. Maharashtra has 15 per cent agricultural land under irrigation, Punjab 92 per cent and Haryana 91 per cent.

Mr Pawar said a second Green Revolution will happen only if the yield per acre was increased. He said problems such as soil infertility, adulterated pesticides and intensive cropping had taken a toll on agriculture.

Agriculture, which provides livelihood to 62 per cent of the people, deserved special merit and it must register a growth of 4 per cent from the present 1 per cent. Quoting statistics, he said that about 82 per cent of farmers had two acres and were still dependent on the vagaries of monsoon.

Crop production must depend on market forces such as demand and supply. He said despite having buffer stocks of sugar, farmers were still growing cane, resulting in an over production of 320 lakh tonnes.

This has to be regulated, otherwise it would spoil the soil and bring down the price. He said it would soon become mandatory to manufacture by-products from sugarcane by October 2007.

The Union Minister asked the grape growers to try out new varieties and to meet the demands of the retailers and markets . It may be noted that the Maharashtra State Grape Growers Association has sought 20 per cent subsidy in sales tax on wine exports.Mr Pawar said the revenue from exports of fruits and horticulture products was around Rs 21 crore, while soyabean grown on lesser acreage brought in Rs 3,000 crore from exports alone. According to Mr Pawar, the co-operatives might not work for the grape industry as it would be difficult to maintain and monitor standards in terms of quality and taste.

Mr Patangrao Kadam, State Co-operation Minister, said attention should be given to the wine industry. Mr Pawar welcomed the opening of the agriculture markets with changes in the APMC Act. He said farmers would benefit would have more options and less worries about factors such as transportation and octroi.

More Stories on : Cultivation | Agricultural Policy | Maharashtra

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