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Wednesday, Aug 01, 2007
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Central assistance for farm sector

Special Correspondent

— Photo: Satish H.

For food security: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flanked by Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia at the State-level review meeting in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

HYDERABAD: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday indicated that Andhra Pradesh would get a major chunk of the additional Central assistance of Rs. 25,000 crore in the eleventh Five Year Plan, for revitalisation of agriculture.

Dr. Singh, who reviewed agriculture at a meeting here with Chief Minister, Minister and State officials, spoke about the Central aid while listing out the areas of concern that included stagnation in agricultural growth in the last decade, both in terms of yields and total output.

He said there were large inter-regional gaps in yields and productivity, with South Telangana being the most backward recording high yield gap. North Coastal Andhra, having relatively high rainfall has low yields in rice and sugarcane and the comparison with delta was quite stark. North Telangana showed poor performance in cotton and jowar. These variations were due to many factors but offered guidance about the areas where efforts had to be focussed.

Dr. Singh said the Central assistance was for bridging such yield gaps and increasing productivity of agriculture and allied products. He had a word of praise for the State’s “ambitious” plan for irrigation projects but cautioned that even after their completion, 40 per cent of the State’s agriculture would be still rain-fed. “This cannot be ignored.”

The State also needs to work hard on improving institutional credit while pointing to the fact that cooperative system accounted for just about 10 per cent of the total credit while more than 50 per cent of farmers were unable to access institutional credit, as they were defaulters.

Growth rate

Briefing the media later, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said an understanding has been reached to draw a roadmap for achieving four per cent annual growth rate in farm sector during the Eleventh plan period. Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia was present.

Mr. Pawar said it was resolved to launch National Food Security Mission in the State to achieve production of 30 lakh tonnes of rice, 3.5 lakh tonnes of pulses and five lakh tonnes of oilseeds besides increasing production of oil palm.

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