NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya today expressed concern over comparatively less contribution of agriculture in total GDP of the country and called for reforms in the sector to bring second Green Revolution.
Panagariya was in Gandhinagar to chair a meeting of 'Task Force on Agriculture Development', constituted by each of the central and western region states, an official release said.
Panagariya said though 49 per cent of country's population is associated with agriculture, their contribution is just 15 per cent in the total GDP.
"It is time we give importance to agriculture sector. For the second green revolution, we have to bring reforms in the various avenues of this sector, such as land, farming, seeds, etc," he was quoted as saying in the release.
The Vice Chairman further added that NITI Aayog believes in equal relationship with states and today's meeting shows that even Niti Aayog can come to states.
Gujarat Health minister and president of Gujarat Task Force Nitin Patel agreed with Panagariya and suggested that farmers must be given a 'status' and this sector should be encouraged in line with industries.
Gujarat Agriculture minister Babubhai Bokhiriya suggested that agriculture sector should be given priority and efforts should be made to see that it gets international finance, it added.
The meeting was attended by the heads of such task force of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Union Territory of Dadara and Nagar Haveli, and Diu and Daman.
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The Task Force, headed by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya, was formed under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February 2015 to re-invigorate the agriculture and allied sectors.
The first regional consultation by Task Force was held today at Gandhinagar in presence of central and western region states/UTs - Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.
"The states favorably pitched for the model land leasing law and other technological interventions including reforms in agricultural marketing," NITI Aayog said in a release.
The participant states also shared their best practices in the field of agriculture and water resources, and they emphasized upon the need to increase employment in the sector by providing remunerative prices of the farm produce.
Besides, the states also discussed about river linking, water conservation, harvesting and strengthening of agricultural co-operatives.
The NITI Aayog also made a presentation on recommendations of the its Task Force report on agricultural development in the meeting.
The Task Force, previously has held four consultative meetings with different stakeholders including farmers, farmers' groups, scientists and activists.
The meeting, presided by Panagariya, was in succession to the series of consultation with the states and UTs to finalise the report.
