Assocham Unveils Plan To Boost Farm Output
The Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry yesterday unveiled a multi-pronged strategy to impart dynamism to India's agriculture sector so that the country achieves 500 million tonnes of annual foodgrain production by the year 2020
The foodgrain production of 500 million tonnes envisaged by 2020 would include 213 million tonnes of rice, 182 million tonnes of wheat, 69 million tonnes of coarse grains and 36 million tonnes of pulses. The total foodgrain production in 1997-98 stood at 194.1 million tonnes.
"It is imperative to provide liberal institutional credit to farmers, modify land lease norms, remove quantitative restrictions on trade in farm products and hand over irrigation management contracts through bids to the private sector," Assocham president L Lakshman said while releasing the `Strategic Plan for Indian Agricultural Sector' in New Delhi.
The plan envisages that India will emerge a major exporter of foodgrain by 2020, with share of 19 per cent in world exports of rice, 5.7 per cent in wheat and 2.9 per cent in coarse grain giving it an overall share of 6.7 per cent in world export of foodgrain. In pulses, the country is projected to achieve self-sufficiency by 2020.
Lakshman pointed out that the liberalisation measures taken so far had skirted the farm sector and unless new strategies were evolved urgently to remove the constraints.