Puducherry: Chief Minister N. Rangasamy has told the 53rd meeting of National Development Council (NDC) held in New Delhi under the Prime Minister on Tuesday that the Union Territory Administration accords highest priority for agriculture and its allied activities.

He said in his speech that the administration would implement, in letter and spirit, all recommendations of the NDC sub-committee.

He agreed with the committee's report that urgent action was needed on all fronts to ensure that rural economy grew at a faster pace.

He said that formation of a separate Seed Certification Agency here had led to gradual increase in availability of certified seeds from 550 tonnes during 1998-99 to 967 tonnes during 2005-2006.

It was proposed to increase seed replacement rate to 10 per cent in respect of groundnut and 15 per cent for pulses.

Mr. Rangasamy said that due to declining land availability and depletion of water resources, a two-pronged strategy to encourage cultivation of less water consuming crops and employ water conservation technologies was adopted here. The objective was to transform agriculture into agri-business through infusion of new technologies making use of assistance from financial institutions.

Puducherry Government was planning to implement a new high-tech scheme on precision farming during XI Plan, which he said would help farmers maximise yields on horticultural crops with minimum use of irrigation water and other farm inputs.

He said that the World Bank assistance under "Hydrology Project Phase II" had been availed since April 2006 to bring data on water under common format throughout India for sustained water resources planning and management.

The project would be implemented in Puducherry region with an outlay of Rs.16 crore spanning a period of six years since 2006.

He referred to the importance of "Uzhavar Udhaviyagams" launched here and functioning of Market Committees ensuring remunerative prices for farm produce.

The National Agricultural Insurance Scheme, implemented in collaboration with Agriculture Insurance Company of India Ltd, would be extended to cover cotton, groundnut and banana, while presently it was covering paddy and sugarcane.

Insurance scheme

The number of farmers covered under insurance scheme was expected to increase from 6,000 to 20,000.

Horticulture was being encouraged as an alternative to agriculture since per hectare returns on horticulture were manifold as compared to cereals and other crops.

He said that several progressive programmes were launched here to develop fisheries sector. Modernisation of fishing vessels, construction of fishing harbours, creation of cold storages and up-gradation of marketing yards were part of the schemes. It had been programmed to step up the annual fish production to 50,000 tonnes from 40,000 tonnes by the end of XI Plan.

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