Implementation of APMC act a priority for Government says Pawar

The implementation of the APMC Act is a priority area for the Government and I shall be shortly convening a meeting of the State Agriculture Ministers for this, stated Mr Sharad Pawar, Union Agriculture Minister, while inaugurating CII Agro Tech 2010 today. Visibly impressed by India’s premier biennial agro technology and business fair, Mr Pawar stated that this was his second visit to Agro Tech and congratulated CII for organizing such an Exposition which would surely help in rejuvenating Indian agriculture. Mr Pawar pointed out that India continued to be the largest agricultural market in the world and a leading producer of food grains. He said that 16 crore families were engaged in agriculture in India and 102 million hectares were under cultivation. The production of food grains was 234 million tonnes in 2009. Though the year was one of the best years in agriculture, still we could not be the complacent and there was a need for strengthening the cold chain infrastructure, diversification in agriculture, careful analysis of regional needs, assured power, good support price etc., he said. Mr Pawar stated that Rs. 86,000 crores was given as loans to farmers last year and this figure rose to 3,66,000 crores this year. He hoped that it would be possible to give loans upto Rs. 3 lakhs to farmers at 5 percent interest. He said for the implementation of the “Food Security Act”, we needed 65 million tones of foodgrains. In order to meet this, we had to make purchases from the open market. This might raise prices of other articles. Mr Pawar said that private public partnership could play an important role for the development of not only agriculture but also horticulture, dairy and fisheries. We had concentrated on enhancing production and productivity both by bringing in high yielding varieties, hybrids and efficient farm equipments. Our efforts towards increasing soil nutrients had seen to the new fertilizer subsidy regime. The new seeds bill was also under consideration. The provisions of the Bill would prove an effective check on the spurious and substandard seeds being sold in the market. Simultaneously, the strategy had also been to provide the necessary infrastructure such as soil testing laboratories; storage and processing facilities; sophisticated pest surveillance and monitoring systems; and IT-enabled knowledge dissemination systems for the farmers. The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, said that the Government had constituted farmers commission to safeguard, the interests of the farming community of the state. Apart from giving number of incentives to the farmers, they were also encouraged to adopt resource conserving technologies and diversify their crops and undertake cultivation of fruits, vegetables, flowers, medicinal and aromatic plants. He said that two good things had taken place – there is 4.4 percent growth rate because of farm sector and the food inflation had come down to 8.6 percent which was lowest in 18 months. Haryana was contributing the maximum to the central pool. Stressing the need for the second green revolution, Mr Hooda said for this more attention was needed for stopping degradation of soil, power availability, seed replacement. There was need for setting up agro processing units and identification of areas for organic farming. The most important is water management. The farm Universities and the private sector’s interaction at present was inadequate and this should be increased. The Afghanistan Agriculture Minister, Mr Mohammad Asif Rahimi, reiterated assured that all facilities would be provided to the Indian prospective investors in his country. He said that many countries like Canada , UK, had invested there but there was still big scope for Indian investors. He said the Government had identified ten areas for investment. The Agriculture Minister of Punjab, Mr Sucha Singh Langa, said Punjab was contributing 60 to 65 percent wheat and 40 percent paddy to the Central pool. He said the Punjab farmers had never let down the Centre in meeting the targets. He said that the Agro-based units should be set in every village in the state so that the products being prepared there could be exported. The fragmentation of land holdings was the matter of concern. He said effort should be made to save the small farmers. Chairperson of UK India Business Council, Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt said the relation between the two countries were very good. She said that the Council and CII had been exchanging useful ideas. Mr Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Chairman, CII National Council of Agriculture, said that agriculture could be rejuvenated in India by involving the private sector. Investments could be in private and public sector mode. He said CII would be organizing a national conference on “Ushering Second Green Revolution” through PPP in New Delhi in March. He urged urgent need to revamp minimum support price and made it more market oriented. He emphasized the need for setting up Agri Renewal Mission. Horticulture should be taken out of APMC and farmers should be given freedom to sell directly in addition to markets. These should be average heighted deduction of 200 percent for R&D and external services. Land lease should be given long tenure(no ownership/tenancy rights) and uncap subsidies on drip irrigation and green houses. Mr Salil Singhal, Chairman, Agro Tech 2010 and Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII, spoke on different aspects of Agro Tech 2010 and its theme. Mr Banerjee, announced the CII National centre of food and agriculture, which will help in linking and capacity building.