India cannot depend on others for food security: Barnala

Coimbatore, Feb 15 (UNI) Tamil Nadu Governor Surjit Singh Barnala today said agriculture is the base on which Indian economy was built and since food is a sensitive subject India cannot afford to depend on other countries for its security.

Inaugurating the eighth Agricultural Science Congress- 2007 organised jointly by the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) here, he said the country needs to be self-sufficient in food.

Mr Barnala said the importance of agriculture has been reduced in the world and this is inherent in the development process, where there was a shift from the agriculture sector to the industries and service sector. There is a continuous migration of agricultural labourers from villages to towns because of the the unremunerative wages in agriculture, he added.

The Governor said, out of 229 million hectares of the total geographical area in the country, nearly fifty per cent of lands were waste or degraded. Nearly 40 per cent of the people were poor and below poverty line. Hence there was a necessity for proper planning, scientific approach and efficient management to increase the productivity of the waste lands, he added.

This will create huge employment opportunities for the poor, he said and added that the development of degraded land was an important input required for reduction in poverty, Stating that the Tamil Nadu is a water deficient state, he said the water management functioning was very important for the state.

Newer technologies need to be taken to the farmers for the extension of their education. A package of practices which is specifically suitable for the agro-climatic conditions of various regions in the State needs to be developed, he added.

He said mission 2007 for a hunger-free India to eradicate poverty needs to be achieved and this can be done through promoting community food security systems and harnest new technologies relating to improved efficiency of water usage.

Opportunities for remunerative self-employment in rural India needs to be improved as opportunities for employment in the organised sector were coming down, he said. The Congress focus on ''science for food, livelihood security and rural prosperity'' was relevant to the present era, he added.

UNI