Farm sector set to grow 3% in 2005-06

Aided by good monsoon, India's agriculture sector was poised to grow by 3 per cent in 2005-06 and play a crucial role in the economy, a Planning Commission member said today.

He, however, was hopeful of a 3-3.5 per cent agricultural growth for the next fiscal, mainly because of the normal monsoon last year.

"We expect the overall (economic) growth to be 7-8 per cent this fiscal while farm sector growth is expected to be 2.5-3 per cent," Planning Commission Member Abhijit Sen told reporters on the sidelines of an ICAR seminar.

The farm sector, which grew by 1.1 per cent last year, could even surpass 3 per cent this fiscal, he added.

The average growth rate for the entire 10th Plan would be around two per cent as the first three years of the five year plan period witnessed slow growth rate of about 1-1.1 per cent in the farm sector, he added.

Sen attributed the slow growth in the first phase of the 10th Five Year Plan to lower level of public investment in the farm and allied sector.

He said stepping up of public investment in farm sector during last two fiscal had started yielding results in terms of higher growth rate in comparison to previous three fiscal.

On whether India can clock 10 per cent growth, the PC member said, "We are talking about above eight per cent growth target for the 11th Plan period."

The target for last year of the 11th Plan could be nine per cent, he said adding that the base target would be "above eight per cent" for the entire plan period.

On ensuring higher growth rate for farm sector, he said, livestock sector had to play an important role in this regard.

A 5-6 per cent growth in livestock sector was crucial for ensuring four per cent growth in agriculture sector, he said, adding "This livestock growth rate is possible to achieve."

India was able to achieve higher growth rates during the 1980s and early 1990s, Sen said and added "We can even ensure higher farm sector growth on a sustainable basis. But for that, public investment has to be stepped up."