Farm sector output to rise by 3% in 11th Plan: Commission

The agriculture sector is likely to record an average growth rate of 3 per cent during the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-12), up from 2.3 in the previous Plan, despite bad monsoon hitting the farm sector this fiscal.

The average growth rate of the farm sector during the five-year period, however, will fall short of the growth target of 4 per cent, said the Mid-Term Appraisal (MTA) document placed before the meeting of the full Planning Commission headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday.

The shortfall would mainly be on account of drought and floods during 2009-10, due to which the farm sector output is likely to shrink by 0.2 per cent this fiscal.

Achieving 4 per cent growth in agriculture, the MTA document said, "is critical for rural prosperity and inclusiveness" as a majority of our population is directly or indirectly dependent on the farm sector.

Referring to the first three years of the 11th Plan, the document said, the average works out to be "2 per cent per annum, considerably short of the desired target of 4 per cent average".

There was robust growth of 4.7 per cent in 2007-08, but it dropped to 1.6 per cent in the subsequent year. In 2009-10, on account of the severe drought, the farm sector is likely to contract by 0.2 per cent as per the advance estimate.

"Most of what needs to be done is in the states domain. Most states do not give agriculture the priority it should receive," the Planning Commission, however, noted.

Funds for irrigation must be used more effectively to expand irrigation and soil testing must be expanded to encourage balanced use of fertilisers and soil nutrition, the document said as some of the required initiatives.