Sharad Pawar Committee recommends wide-ranging agricultural reforms

New Delhi, May 29 (UNI) The NDC Sub-Committee on Agriculture has suggested wide-ranging reforms in the farm sector, including slashing subsidies and restructuring crop insurance, to arrest the declining growth in foodgrains production and doubling growth of the agricutural sector.

The Report of the Sub-Committee, headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, is the focus of National Development Council (NDC) meeting here today, being held under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The sole agenda of the NDC meeting is to evolve an agriculture strategy for the Eleventh Plan (2007-2011).

The Report suggests substantial hike in allocations to agriculture by State governments, review and reduction of subsidies to agriculture, restructuring of Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Pprogramme and eliminating restrictions and statutory regulations on the food processing industries.

It also calls for pursuing an approach to planning based on agro-climatic zones, improving credit outreach and setting up of Debt-Settlement Forums and Boards at district level to be headed by independent professionals, preferably retired judicial officers or bankers.

The Committee suggests a new approach to risk management of crop insurance and outlines a number of new initiatives in this regard, including eliminating high risk crops in government's crop insurance schemes.

The key objective of the Committee is to step up the agricultural growth rate to more than four per cent per annum from the present growth rate of a little over two per cent.

The Report highlights that to sustain an annual nine per cent GDP growth in the Eleventh Plan, an agricultural growth rate of four per cent per annum is neccessary.

The Sub-Committee is of the view that fiscal support to agriculture, particularly subsidies, should be reviewed and reduced so that larger resources are available to support critical, albeit WTO permissible services ,like research and extension; pest and disease control; marketing and promotion services; infrastructure development and agricultural insurance.

The Sub-Committe expresses concern that foodgrains production and yield rates have witnessed decline in growth rate since the last decade and a half. Since there is no scope for sizeable increase in area under cultivation, decline in yields during this period needs serious attention, the Committee says.

Wheat, which is an important cereal for national food security, has shown marked declining trend in productivity from the growth rate of 3.10 per cent during the 1980s to 1.83 per cent in the 1990s and further to 0.11 per cent from 2000-01 to 2004-05. Decleration in growth of rice over this period is also remarkable.

The decline in agricultural productivity has been observed in all regions and the foodgrain crops, with the exception of Bajra and to some extent maize.

The Report says that the fall in growth rate in foodgrains in general and rice in particular below the population growth rate of 2.38 per cent during 1980's and 2.15 per cent during 1990s has serious implications for national food security in the long run.

While the Approach paper to the Eleventh Plan has been approved by the NDC, the final draft is under preperation in the Commission.

The strategy that will be finalised by the NDC today, will find its place in the final draft.

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