COMMENTARY
INTERVIEWS
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

PM promises major initiative to spread green revolution

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said today that the government would soon announce a major initiative to integrate wasteland development, watershed management and bio-resources management for correcting the imbalances in farming and bio-conservation sectors.

Addressing the 69th annual general meeting of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research Society, he said the proposed initiative would seek to give a major boost to agro-processing industries and agri-business in rural areas.

Value addition to farm products for enhancing the income of farmers from their agricultural output would be the main objective of the endeavour, he added.

Vajpayee is the ex-officio president of the ICAR Society as he is in charge of the Union agriculture ministry. With its members drawn from different states, the society is the top policy guiding body for agricultural research and education in the country.

The prime minister said the achievements in the agricultural front during the five decades of Independence were significant because food production went up almost four-fold and virtually eliminated food imports. ICAR, its dedicated scientists and hard working farmers, were behind that success, he acknowledged.

However, Vajpayee pointed out that these achievements were very modest when measured against the needs of India and the inherent potential of Indian agriculture.

Yields per hectare of major crops in India are considerably lower than those in other countries with comparable climatic conditions. Food production has not kept pace with the growth in population. There are many Indian homes where persistent hunger is still a reality, he said.

The prime minister underscored the need for a self-critical view of what the government has achieved and was yet to achieve on the farm front. He felt more could have been achieved if the government's policies in the past were more farmer-friendly and less bureaucratic.

The prime minister said the proposed initiative was aimed at correcting the approaches of the past. He identified the pressing questions before Indian agriculture as: How quickly can we make India hunger-free? How will we be able to double food production in the next ten years? And how can we make India a major exporter of food products?

Vajpayee pointed out that the main thrust of the package of initiatives would be scientific water conservation in the dryland areas that constitute 63 per cent of the cultivated area and was left out by the green revolution. On-farm water and energy management would hold the key to improved production from this area, he added.

The prime minister said the initiative would also be intended to spur people's participation (women's groups, non-government organisations and panchayat raj institutions) for rural infrastructrue development and water management programmes. Tree planting, contour bunding, construction of storage tanks, land shaping and grazing control would be part of it, he added.

Minister of State for Agriculture and ICAR Society vice-president Som Pal said the government was keen on initiating a 25-year scheme for watershed development so that all the rain-fed areas become agriculturally productive and self-supporting.

He said the national agricultural policy, under formulation, would also give special thrust to watershed development.

UNI