'Improve delivery of farm sops'

The World Bank said re-energising the Indian agriculture sector will require reviewing and re-orienting the government's policy, expenditure and regulatory environment.

This was needed to build a solid foundation for a productive, internationally competitive agriculture sector, said Dina Umali-Deininger, lead agriculture economist at the World Bank and author of the report India: Re-energising the Agricultural Sector to Sustain Growth and Reduce Poverty.

The Bank prescribed progress in two policy areas. The first is to re-orient government expenditure to ensure efficient delivery of farm subsidies. The second is to eliminate curbs on domestic trade, remove levies on rice and sugar, small-scale reservation of agro-enterprises, and state controls on wholesale marketing.