Shri Sharad Pawar Calls for Higher Private Investment in Agriculture

The Minister of Agriculture, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Shri Sharad Pawar has called for higher investment by the private sector in agriculture sector. He was speaking at the National Conference on Rural Prosperity through Better Agriculture, which was inaugurated by the President, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil. Shri Pawar said, new technology which helps in developing affordable farming equipments suited to Indian conditions and farm sizes is the need of the hour and the private sector will have to take a leading role in this. Shri Pawar said “as Indian agriculture gains momentum, there is growing demand for quality inputs, support services through effective extension and knowledge dissemination and adequate agricultural infrastructure. Farmer awareness and capacity building have to be taken up in a big way”. Here is the full text of Agriculture Minister’s speech: “It gives me great pleasure to participate in this National Conference on ‘Rural Prosperity Through Better Agriculture’ organized by Crop Care Federation of India. When this idea was mooted by Shri Rajju Shroff, it took me no time to decide that we, in Ministry of Agriculture, should support it for reasons I will enumerate a little later. But the most forceful impetus to this programme came from Mahamahim Rashtrapatiji herself who graciously agreed to inaugurate this conference. Your Excellency, by doing so you have demonstrated your great concern for agriculture on which depends the livelihood of 60% of our countrymen and on which the entire nation depends for food security. The success of green revolution has ensured our food security today. However, agriculture faces new challenges the world over. The world’s population is set on a course to increase beyond nine billion by 2050 even as we are experiencing shifts in weather patterns due to climate change. Growing income levels on one hand, and limited scope in bringing more land under cultivation on the other, underline the challenges of production keeping pace with demand. The task, therefore, is clear – to scale new peaks of agricultural productivity. But this alone would not be sufficient. Today, the farmer has both the need and the opportunity to diversify farming and generate income through activities such as horticulture, animal husbandry and fisheries. The twin imperatives of productivity increase and diversification are not only important to continuance of our food security, but also to enhancement of rural incomes. In recent years, we have witnessed a renewed focus on agriculture. Major programmes such as the National Horticulture Mission, the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana and the National Food Security Mission have been launched. As a result, the plan outlay for the agriculture & allied sector has increased substantially from Rs. 7,431 crore in 2006-07 to Rs. 19,070 crore in 2010-11, an increase of about 156%. These initiatives seek to enhance both production and productivity by encouraging high yielding varieties/hybrid seeds and quality planting material, efficient farm equipments, micro and minor irrigation and improving agricultural infrastructure. Separately, a new fertilizer subsidy policy has been introduced to encourage site specific nutrient management. Efforts have been made for increasing availability of credit to the farmer and offering better risk mitigation instruments. The flow of agriculture credit since 2003-04 has consistently exceeded the target. From the level of Rs 86,981 crore credit flow in 2003-04, the agriculture credit disbursed in 2009-10 has touched Rs. 3,66,919 crore. New legislative measures such as the Seeds Bill and the Pesticides Management Bill have been formulated for consideration of the Parliament to usher in a more effective regulatory system for these critical inputs. Some states like Maharashtra and Orissa have started sophisticated pest surveillance and monitoring systems which must be launched by other states as well. Similarly, IT-enabled soil test based advisories are being given to the farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. The efforts to channelize higher investments – both public and private – have shown encouraging results. There has been a significant increase in the gross capital formation in agriculture as a proportion of agricultural GDP which has gone up from 14.1 per cent in 2004-05 to 21.3 in 2008-09. Besides increasing investment in agriculture we also need to give a correct and encouraging price signal to the farmers as they are an extremely effective tool for increasing agricultural production and productivity. Government has increased the MSP of major crops such as paddy, wheat and pulses by as much as 79%, 75% and 125% respectively between 2004-05 and 2010-11. All this has spurred a new dynamism in the agriculture sector today. The country achieved record food production of 234 million tonnes in 2008-09; a substantial jump from the production of about 198 million tonnes of food grains in 2004-05. The increases in MSP of paddy and wheat have resulted in record production and procurement of wheat and rice during the last two years. Last year, despite the severest drought in the past four decades, the production of food grains stood at about 218 million tonnes. This year, overall rainfall has been good and record production in kharif pulses, sugarcane and cotton is expected. The substantial hike in MSP of kharif pulses is showing results this kharif season with increase in estimated production of kharif pulses from about 4.3 million tonnes in 2009 to 6 million tonnes in 2010. However, due to deficit rainfall in Bihar, Jharkhand and parts of West Bengal there is likelihood of some loss in paddy production. On the positive side, due to the good South West monsoon, reservoir levels are very comfortable and soil moisture levels are high, promising a robust rabi production this year. Hopefully, agricultural growth has picked up again. As Indian agriculture gains momentum, there is growing demand for quality inputs, support services through effective extension and knowledge dissemination and adequate agricultural infrastructure. Farmer awareness and capacity building have to be taken up in a big way. The private sector has a critical role to play in meeting the demand of higher investment, inputs and services in agriculture. New technologies which help develop affordable farming equipments suited to Indian condition and farm sizes is the need of the hour and the private sector will have to take a leading role in this. I am sure that the deliberations in this conference over the next two days will address these issues and help in charting out the road map for the private and the public sector in maintaining agricultural growth and increasing rural incomes and prosperity. Before I end, I must sound a word of caution. While much has been achieved, the road ahead is riddled with many problems and bottlenecks. The most daunting of these is the Climate Change and its impact on Indian Agriculture. Rising temperatures causing heat stress in the crop, erratic and ever changing rainfall patterns are a cause of grave concern for us as they have already started affecting our agriculture negatively. We are all witness to the severe drought of last year and the untimely rains this year which have brought down our production and productivity. To counter these ill effects National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture along with the ongoing ICAR network on Climate Change that involves 25 centers across the country has been launched. We are also coordinating with all the renowned research institutions worldwide on this front and are hopeful of a breakthrough in developing heat resistant seed varieties to successfully meet the challenge ahead. While I am hopeful and desirous of a prosperous future for our farming community, I am fully aware of the huge responsibility on my shoulders to steer the agriculture sector to serve as the vehicle for ushering in rural prosperity in our vast hinterland. I am confident that our government will deliver on this count and ensure a “sufalam - sujalam bharat”. Mahamahim Rashtrapatiji I would like to once again thank on behalf of the organizers and on my own personal behalf for blessing this conference with your benign presence. Your presence here today will motivate not only the private sector present here and my colleagues from the government to rededicate themselves to ushering in an era of rural prosperity and development”.