Twelfth Five Year Plan aims to produce 25 mn tonnes of food grains

The Dollar Business Bureau The reforms and initiatives taken by the Government of India towards improvement of Agriculture & allied sectors will help in achieving a 25 million tonne-target of food grain production by the end of 12th Five Year Plan period. This was stated by M K Kundariya, Minister of State for Agriculture, on Wednesday, during his address at the ‘National Conference on Agriculture for Kharif Campaign-2015’, organised in New Delhi. While lauding the steps being taken by the Government of India through National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture, the Minister stressed on need for making the farming sector a remunerative profession. In this regard, he called for reduced cost of production along with an increase in crop productivity, to make the sector a remunerative one. As a financial support to the farmers, the government’s proposal to create a National Agriculture Market will provide the farmers with an incidental benefit of moderating rice rise based on the market position, he informed. For efficient implementation of the scheme, the Minister urged the States to work on development of Agri-Tech Infrastructure and e-Marketing facilities. To help out the farmers from the adverse climate effects, the Minister called upon the need to bring more and more farmers under the National Agricultural Income Insurance Scheme. The Minister also raised concerns over the market challenges being faced by the farmers due to over-production and lack of storage, cold chain and marketing facilities, among others. Meanwhile, Secretary, Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, informed that during 2015-16, the Centre will not be able to maintain the last-year level of allocation to States under agri schemes, as the Centre’s share of allocation has been reduced considerably in various sectors in current year. Therefore, in order to maintain similar/higher level availability of funds for the agricultural sector, the State governments have to provide higher funds under different schemes, he added. The Secretary further suggested the States to see that an expeditious payment of compensation is done by Insurance Companies to the farmers. In his address, the Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry Dairying & Fisheries, highlighted the role of livestock in ensuring and maintaining a significant growth in Agriculture & allied sectors. If we have to achieve the Agri-GDP of 4%, the live stock has to grow by 6-8%, he said, adding that there is an urgent need for huge investments in the live stock sector. Stating that the Department has been allocated with only Rs 13000 crore against the requirement of Rs 25600 crore in the 12th Five Year Plan, he urged the States to ensure adequate funds for the livestock sector from the States’ budgets.  

This article was published on April 9, 2015.