World Bank lends Rs 1200 cr to ICAR

New Delhi, Nov 22: World Bank will lend a Rs 1200 crore soft loan to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) for promoting the national agriculture innovative programme and to ensure that India attains 400 MMT of production by 2010.

''The World Bank soft loan of Rs 1200 crore would be utilised in the next five years in a manner that it yields the richest possible benefit to Indian agriculture and make it prominently rewarding to Indian farmers to ensure that the dream of Green Revolution II is accomplished,'' ICAR Director General Mangla Rai said today.

He was speaking at an Assocham Summit on Green Revolution II here.

He also announced that ICAR has signed an MoU with China to ensure high yield rice production in India and that the Council has identified many more such countries to arrive at understanding for technological transfer so that India enhances its food production and feeds its population with nutrient variety of all sorts of food articles.

Mr Rai said ICAR would shortly call for projects from various stakeholders such as agriculture research institutes, training centres, research laboratories and NGOs to suggest it ways and means as also technologies for developing high yield varieties of seeds to enhance India's agriculture production.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Agriculture Kantilal Bhuria emphasised the need for initiatives to boost Indian agriculture sector saying that the national policy on agriculture seeks to actualise the vast untapped growth potential of Indian agriculture, strengthen rural infrastructure to support faster agricultural development, promote value addition, accelerate the growth of agro business, create employment in rural areas.

Also, French Interministerial Delegate for Ago Food and Agriculture Processing Industries Nicholas Forissier, in his observation, offered golden rice of France to India subjecting that Indian farmers would not export their production and make use of such a product only for domestic consumption for their healthier growth.

''Intensive public private partnership to promote agriculture produce as also equally utilisation od the ICAR initiatives will boost domestic agriculture forward,'' Assocham President Anil K Agarwal said.

UNI