Government to ensure 4 percent farm growth

New Delhi, Feb 8 : Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said that the Central Government will take all measures to ensure a four percent or more expansion in the farm sector for next 10-20 years.

At the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) function here Chidambaram said, "Everything can wait except agriculture. Government was committed to take all measures for growth of the farm sector."

"Through human intervention and technology it was possible to achieve and sustain a four percent growth in agriculture," he added.

Referring to Central Statistical Organisation's (CSO) advance estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) for the current year, Chidambaram said: "We are confident that agricultural growth would be higher than the advance estimates."

CSO has estimated that this year agriculture output would grow at 2.6 percent, against last year's 3.8 percent.

On Thursday, Chidambaram said that maize and soyabean production would register an all time high growth this year, which is not reflected in advance estimates.

ANI