A sub-committee on agriculture, appointed by the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry, met for the first time and decided to come up with a plan to achieve higher growth in the agriculture sector through public sector involvement.
The country’s average farm growth in the first three years of the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2007-12) has been only 2.2 per cent, against the target of 4 per cent for the entire period. The mid-term appraisal has estimated the average growth in the sector to be around 3 per cent.
“Compared to other sectors, growth in the agriculture sector is lagging behind. We deliberated on the role of trade and industry in enhancing agricultural production to meet the country’s food security,” Agriculture Secretary P K Basu told reporters after the meeting.
The sub-committee on “enhancing agriculture production and food security” was formed on May 26 and comprises Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani and Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Chairman and Managing Director Jamshyd Godrej, among other prominent industrialists and government officials.