Govt proposes Rs 25,550 cr under NFSM in 21th year plan

The government has proposed a Rs 25,550 crore fund under the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) for the 12th Five-Year Plan to raise foodgrains production in the country.

"It is proposed to continue NFSM during the 12th Five- Year Plan with some modifications," Minister of State for Agriculture Harish Rawat informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

"An amount of Rs 25,550 crore has been proposed under NFSM for the 12th Five-Year Plan. The state-wise allocation of which is yet to be finalised," he added.

The NFSM programme, with a corpus of Rs 4,882 crore, was launched in 2007 with the target to raise rice production by 10 million tonnes, wheat by 8 million tonnes and pulses by 2 million tonnes by the end of 11th five year plan.

In the 12th Plan (2012-17), NFSM aims to raise foodgrains production by 25 million tonnes, Besides rice, wheat and pulses, NFSM proposes to cover coarse cereals and fodder crops during the 12th five year plan.

The scheme is currently being implemented in 27 states.

"NFSM is being revamped during the 12th plan with focused attention on identified crops following a location specific, targets oriented production strategies which have more focus on accelerated production of foodgrain crops including coarse cereals and fodders," Rawat said.

That apart, he said the scheme would focus on asset building, strengthening of institutions including building of farmers organisation to serve the farmers in focused manner in order to improve the production and productivity of foodgrain crops.