Agriculture needs corrective steps

Govt has to do tough balancing act

The Planning Commission today raised concerns over the lack of growth in the agricultural sector during the first two years of the Tenth Plan period and said the mid-term appraisal would focus on corrective steps to improve delivery and performance in the remainder of the period.

It, however, said despite lower than projected economic growth, the poverty reduction target of 5 per cent would be achieved. However, the employment situation in agriculture remained disturbing.

The paper said the economy was not generating sufficient productive jobs to absorb the addition to the labour force, especially educated workers.

In its approach paper for the mid-term appraisal, the Commission said, the Plan had projected a gradual increase in the growth rate of agriculture from 3 per cent in 2002 to around 5 per cent in 2007. However, in the first two years there had been no discernible acceleration in agricultural growth.

It said credit availability was a major problem, coupled with the inability of farmers to repay debts. This was partly due to the pervasive sickness of the cooperative credit system and unwillingness or inability of banks to extend direct credit.

While agricultural diversification has to be a major element in the strategy to accelerate agricultural growth, the Plan Panel recommended a multi-pronged strategy involving a shift of land from cereals to non-cereals and focus on marketing arrangements, encouragement of downstream food processing, agro-processing and rural services and research linked to market requirements for diversifying into horticulture.

"The revival of agricultural dynamism will call for corrective steps to deal with the near collapse of extension systems in most states and decline in agricultural research universities," it said.

Terming irrigation and effective water resource management as crucial for agricultural development, the Plan panel noted that the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme "does not appear to have had any tangible benefits". It called for revamping the state irrigation departments.

The paper said the mid-term appraisal would also address issues pertaining to the Essential Commodities Act.

While the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) had said the would not be diluted, the paper said, "It is necessary to examine this issue in depth so that changes which are necessary in the interest of accelerating growth of farm incomes can be made."

Referring to the issue of food security, the paper said the mid-term appraisal will need to rationalise the overall food and nutrition interventions being made by the government, since in recent years there has been an increase in food support schemes causing an overlap between various schemes in terms of target groups.

"Adequacy of nutrition needs to incorporate the fact that certain vulnerable groups require interventions that go beyond the calorie-protein norms currently sought to be met through food grains alone," it said.