India: plans to improve agri productions

New Delhi / IN. (wib) India´s government is planning to improve the production of wheat, rice and pulses in the Eleventh Five Year Plan, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said. According to a statement published by national newspapers he said, the government has set a target of additional production of ten million tonnes of rice, eight million tonnes of wheat and two million tonnes of pulses in India´s 11th five year plan. 2006/2007 the food grain production has risen to 216 million against 198,36 million in 2004/2005. Oilseeds output has risen while cotton, soyabean and sugarcane production has also registered a record high.

Pawar pointed out that inspite of the improvement in the agricultural sector, there were some problems in the sector such as pressure created by small land holdings. For getting a better price to farmers for their produce, the agricultural sector would need some regulations. «We have to make an atmosphere to the farmers for enjoying the benefit of the economic boom», the minister said. He further added that the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has announced a relief package of 17.000 Rupees crore to 36 districts, where farmer suicides occured.

He said non-availability of irrigation water as the problem being faced by these districts and measures have been taken to contain it. «Lot of weightage has been given to irrigation. Budgetary allocation for irrigation in 2004/2005 was about 5.000 Rupees crore and it was 7.000 Rupees crore last year. This year this has been increased to 11.000 Rupees crore».