Govt to inject Rs 25,000 crore into Agriculture sector

Pune, Aug 18 (UNI) Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said changes will soon be visible following the government's policy to inject Rs 25,000 crore in the Agriculture sector to strengthen it and make it more viable.

The Minister was speaking at the 47th Convention of Maharashtra State Grape Growers Association. He said Agriculture must register a growth rate of four per cent as it cannot survive at the present rate of one per cent. Besides, the sector employs 62 per cent of the population and is the mainstay of the people of the country, and therefore merits special focus. Nearly, 82 per cent farmers have two acres of land and 60 per cent of agriculture depends on the vagaries of nature, Mr Pawar said.

One of the highlights of the Rs 25,000 crore new agriculture policy will be about bringing atleast 40 per cent agricultural land under irrigation in states.

Presently, Maharashtra has 15 per cent agricultural land under irrigation, Punjab 92 per cent and Haryana 91 per cent, these types of imbalances must be addressed, he said.

Pawar said a second green revolution can be expected only if the yield per acre is increased. Problems like soil infertility, adulterated pesticides, intensive cropping have taken its toll on the land.

''Crop production must depend on market forces like demand and supply,'' he said. Citing examples, he said that despite having buffer stocks of sugar, farmers still insisted on growing sugarcane and now there is around 320 lakh tonnes of sugar. ''This type of production must be regulated besides it takes its toll on the soil and price of sugarcane. He said that it will become mandatory by October 2007, to manufacture bye products from sugarcane like ethanol fuel.

The minister welcomed the opening of the agriculture markets with changes in the APMC Act. He said farmers would benefit as they will have the choice of market and less headaches of transportation, octroi, and market fees. Besides, the government will provide storage and issue warehouse receipts, enabling farmers to store and sell his product whenever he desires.

Pawar said the concept of terminal marketing at various places in the state and the country is also coming up. These would provide facilities like storage, grading, packaging among others.

He said the government has earmarked a total of Rs 1,200 crore aid to help sick cooperative societies. The state government would need to give Rs 200 crore for the same. This would help debt ridden farmers stand on their feet again.

However, the mentality to pay back also needs to be cultivated, the minister pointed out.

UNI