Observe year 2006-07 as "Year for Farmers": Swaminathan

Tirupati, Aug 20 (UNI) To restore farmers' faith, the National Commission on Farmers (NCF) has recommended that the year 2006-07 from June 1 this year to May 31, 2007 be observed as ''Year for Farmers'', NCF Chairman Dr M S Swaminathan said today.

Delivering the fifth Bharat Ratna Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Lecture on ''Indian Farmers in 21 st Century: Mission and Vision'' organised by Academy of Grassroots Studies and Research of India (AGRASRI) here, the renowned scientist said to put agriculture back on the rails, agriculturists must undertake soil health enhancement through integrated measures and promote water harvesting.

''We should empower gram sabhas to function as panipanchayats and initiate credit reforms coupled with credit and insurance literacy'', he said.

Training of one woman and one male member of every panchayat in farm science would be done besides establishing farm schools, he said.

He said the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme(NREGP) provides a unique opportunity for imparting functional literacy using computer aided learning techniques.

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