Food ministry awaits Cabinet's call on export of excess wheat with FCI.

Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said the food ministry proposed that the surplus wheat with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) should be exported. This proposal is a part of the agenda for discussion in the Cabinet, which will take the final call on this issue.

“Approximately Rs 1.87 lakh crore worth of rice, wheat, sugar, etc. were exported last year. The food ministry proposes the export of stocked wheat with FCI, while the decision would be taken by the Cabinet,” he said at a press conference on the sidelines of the national conference for evolving the strategy for maximising kharif production, which commenced in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Pawar said that the decision would be taken after due consideration, as the government cannot risk the shortage of foodgrains in the country. He added that the progress of the monsoon would be kept in mind whle taking the call.

The Kharif season will commence shortly and FCI is already stocked with the foodgrains, so the food ministry has timed the proposal right. According to figures available with FCI, the stock position of wheat as on February 1, 2013 was 110.47 million tonne. And this year as well, the ministry expects bumper production, for which the advance estimate is 250.64 million tonne.

On the issue of alleged irregularities in the United Progressive Alliance's (UPA) Rs 52,000-crore loan waiver scheme, Pawar said what went wrong in identifying the eligible farmers is still being investigated.

“Two things came out in the Comptroller and Auditor General of India's (CAG) report. Firstly, a certain percentage of farmers who were not eligible benefited, while a certain percentage of eligible farmers could not get the advantage of the waiver. It appeared that some mistake occurred while preparing the list of farmers,” he said.

Pawar added that when the preliminary report regarding auditing of 90,576 accounts out of a total of 3.7 crore accounts were given to the finance ministry.

“It sent communications to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to audit all the accounts as soon as possible and submit the list of farmers who were eligible but could not avail the waiver,” the minister said.

Pawar also informed that the ministry is in talks with states regarding the diversification of crops. He said the two-crop pattern must be changed to introduce cultivation of crops like pulses and oilseeds, which would help in maintaining the texture of the soil.

“The states have suggested that incentives should be given to the farmers, and this year’s Budget has already earmarked funds for crop diversification,” he said.

Consolidating 11th Plan gains
The conference began with a call by Pawar to focus on consolidating the gains made in the Eleventh Five-year Plan and become equipped to face the new and emerging challenges.

He stated that the annual growth rate for agriculture and allied sector during the Eleventh Five-year Plan jumped to 3.64 per cent from 2.5 per cent in the Ninth Five-year Plan and 2.4 per cent in the Tenth Five-year Plan. This growth was achieved in spite of the drought in 2009-10 and drought-like conditions in some parts of the country in 2010-11.

Pawar also expressed satisfaction at the achievements of flagship programmes such as the National Food Security Mission (NFSM), the National Horticulture Mission and Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern India (BGREI).

He said, “Against a target of an additional production of 20 million tonne of foodgrains, the NFSM was able to achieve 42.04 million tonne of additional production of foodgrains (from 217.28 million tonne in the pre-NFSM year of 2006-07 to 259.32 million tonne in 2011-12). Horticulture production has recorded an average annual growth rate of 5.5 per cent during the Eleventh Five-year Plan.”

“We must ensure that the NFSM not only continues to ensure food security through enhanced foodgrain production, but also helps in ensuring protein requirements are met through enhanced pulse production. Simultaneously, efforts for bridging the yield gaps in low-productivity areas like the eastern states and rain-fed areas have to be made on a bigger scale,” Pawar said.

“It gave me immense joy when I learnt that against an average production of 42.60 million tonne of rice in the seven eastern states – Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal – prior to the launch of BGREI, the production increased to 46.97 million tonne in 2010-11, 55.27 million tonne in 2011-12, and 55.62 million tonne in 2012-13,” the minister said.

He added, “This means that these eastern states are now contributing more than 50 per cent of the country’s total rice production, and thus the efforts in ushering green revolution in this region has taken strong roots. I congratulate the officials of these states present here for this outstanding performance and urge them to aim at attaining greater heights.”

Pawar said it is now time to go beyond the east to north-east India, adding, “We have already covered all the states of north-east India under NFSM-RICE, and the results are encouraging. The potential of this area for horticulture plantation and other commercial plantation such as rubber, oil palm, etc. need to be explored.”

“I would like to appeal to the officials from these states to come forward and use the flexibility offered by RKVY to the fullest possible. The officials in my ministry will always be ready to provide any guidance or assistance required,” the minister added.

He also expressed the hope that a number of provisions made in the Union Budget for agriculture will support this sector well. He made special mention of the higher allocation for agriculture, setting the target of agricultural credit to Rs 7 lakh crore, and allocations for crop diversification, farmer-producer organisations and the National Livestock Mission.

The conference is being attended by senior officers of state agriculture departments, representatives of different Union ministries and the Planning Commission, experts and scientists from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), other research institutes and crop directorates.

Krishi Vigyan Mela inaugurated
Inaugurating the Krishi Vigyan Mela, an event co-located with the conference, Pawar called for the introduction of innovative farm technologies that could be easily adopted by the farmers and are essential for enhancing farmer’s prosperity.

He said, “The adoption of appropriate and farmer-friendly technologies has remained the weakest link in Indian agriculture, and I hope, by organising Vigyan Melas like this, we would be able to address this gap.”

Pawar added, “The key to the success of agriculture lies in transferring the knowledge and technologies developed by the agricultural scientists in their laboratories to the farming communities in their fields.”

He said that due to the hard work of the Indian farming community, the country's agriculture sector has emerged a success story. “We have not only achieved self-sufficiency in foodgrain production, but also emerged as a major player in the international trade. Our export of wheat and rice ensured that the international prices of these commodities remain stable,” he added.

Stating that the problems like water scarcity, small land holdings, erratic monsoon and adverse drought conditions – which hamper agricultural productivity – have to be addressed, Pawar said, “The government of India is doing its best to solve these problems through various programmes and schemes targeted to the agricultural and allied sectors.”

“However, all agricultural research, development and extension organisations must come together to meet these challenges and convert them into opportunities. I see no reason why we cannot overcome these challenges,” the minister said.

Tariq Anwar, minister of state for agriculture; S Ayyappan, secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) and director general, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), dignitaries of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), scientists, students and farmers from across the country also attended the mela.


Source : fnbnews.com