India to have record food grain production this year
Gujarat Global News Network, New Delhi
India will have a record food production by the end of 11th plan which will exceed 250 million tones, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohansinh Singh said.
Pulse production is expected to 18 million tonnes will be more than previous year’s 15 million tonnes.
Addressing the golden jubilee of Indian Agricultural Research Institute on Monday the PM said that we are producing more milk, fruits, vegetables, sugarcane, cotton, oilseeds thn ever before. Last year production of vegetables went up by 9.57% and nearly 2 million tonnes of cold storage capacity was created.
Agricultural growth is likely to be 3.5% per annum during the 11th five year plan which is better than 10th plan, he added. But it has to be increased to 4 % or more. This will call for very determined effort on the part of both the central government and the state governments ranging over many areas including investment in irrigation, investment in watershed management, provision of credit, provision of marketing support etc.
At any given time there is a gap between the yield per hectare that is observed in the field and the yields that can be achieved under ideal farming conditions. That difference is quite substantial at present and it represents the failure of the system to exploit the yield potential which our scientists have given us. In the short run it is the job of the administration to close this gap and our agricultural strategy must give high priority to this effort. This is not the job of research scientists but it does involve close collaboration between our scientific and technical manpower and the administration.
Dr. Singh said “we have to keep in mind not only the increase in demand for food but the changing composition of that demand. It is estimated that we would need an addition of nearly 50 million tonnes of food grains in the next 10 years to meet domestic demand. Increased production of foodgrains is certainly an important plank of food security and our efforts to rid the country of the scourge of malnutrition.
But proper nutrition also requires a balanced diet. We would need to produce more fruits & vegetables and protein rich products such as milk, eggs, fish and meat. The demand for these products is expected to grow substantially with rising incomes and changing dietary habits and preferences. Therefore we have to pursue a multi-pronged strategy which seeks to boost productivity and production through product-specific interventions, he added.
For news in Hindi see our Hindi news daily Chaupal Chronicle
