Speech of Hon’ble Minister of State for Agriculture , National Productivity Awards for Agriculture on 24th September 2009,
Venue: Scope Auditorium, Scope Complex, New Delhi.
Shri N.C. Vasudevan, Director General, National Productivity Council, Ms Dimple Verma, Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, other officials, awardees, Ladies and Gentlemen!
On the occasion of National Productivity Awards Ceremony, I would like to convey my felicitations to all the winners of the coveted award. I am happy to know that the search for the award winners was carried out across the length and breadth of the country. Thus, these Awards are not only a recognition of the excellent work done by the organizations in improving productivity of the sector but also represent their participation in the country’s march ahead. I am sure that this well deserving recognition will enthuse the awardees to contribute more in the coming years. I congratulate all of them.
Agriculture plays an important role in the rural economy of the country. This sector provides gainful employment as well as raw materials for a large number of industries. The rate of growth in agricultural sector which accounts for almost all rural income requires further intensification of our efforts and a proactive approach to meet the challenges of food security and food demand of increasing population.
This rapid growth of Agriculture is essential for achieving the inclusive growth objective, as envisaged in the 11th Five Year Plan. The contribution of Agriculture in the growth of GDP will further improve rural employment conditions by raising real wages and reducing underemployment
One of the major challenges of the 11th Five Year Plan are to reverse the deceleration in Agricultural growth that the economy is experiencing over the last decade and increasing the Agricultural growth rate by at least double the current levels.
It is vital to increase Agricultural incomes, as this sector is the largest employer and provider of livelihood for an overwhelming majority of the country’s population. Also, the threats of persistent climate change and some what reduced monsoon call for sound managerial strategies to avert food shortages.
It is also important to recognize demographic realities particularly, the role of women in Agriculture. Since urban migration and consequent feminization of farm activities are showing an increasing trend, women need to be given well-defined rights to reduce distress and thereby increase Agricultural growth. It is encouraging to note that NPC is propagating productivity as an evolving concept with due emphasis on issues and concerns relating to quality, environment, energy, integrated rural and community development and women workers.
Growth in Agriculture would not only enable us to be self-reliant but also help meet the food and nutritional security of the people. This is also essential for equitable distribution of income and wealth in rural areas, and for reducing poverty and improving the quality of life.
Achieving 4% Agricultural growth along with maintaining prices and profitability requires a corresponding increase in demand for Agricultural output matched with the supply side response, based on productivity improvements.
With the increase in trade and globalisation, Indian Agricultural sector has been opened to new opportunity as well as challenges. To remain competitive in this new economic scenario, it is essential to increase the productivity of the sector by diversification into higher value output, for example Horticulture, Floriculture etc. Besides raising farmers’ income, this would result in better utilization of resources, creation of employment and growth of activities other than growing foodgrains. Allied sectors such as fisheries, dairying, food processing are also being given an impetus to achieve nutrient security, employment and rise in rural incomes.
Government of India has duly recognized the problems faced by the Agricultural sector and is taking all possible steps to increase the productivity of the Agricultural sector. Improved rural connectivity envisaged through the Bharat Nirman Programme is expected to trigger growth by significantly easing existing infrastructure constraints.
Government is also taking effective steps to enable farmers to have easy access to credit at affordable rates. Access to financial resources not only helps them to exploit investment opportunities but also reduces their vulnerability to shocks, and promotes economic growth.
In this era of globalisation and trade liberalization the productivity and competitiveness of the Agricultural sector also depends to a large extent on effective marketing of the Agricultural produce.
In order to facilitate farmer in marketing and storage of their produce, Government is implementing the schemes of Gramin Bhandaran Yojana, construction of cold storage and development/strengthening of the Agricultural marketing infrastructure as well as grading and standardisation. A network of rural godowns and cold storages is also being created throughout India to provide the facility of safe and scientific storage to the farming community thus avoiding produce deterioration and distress sales.
Land and water management also would need to be given highest priority as the productivity growth in Indian Agriculture depends to a large extent on the quality of soil and efficient utilization of water.
In recent years the land use pattern has been changing. Though conversion of Agricultural to non-agricultural land is an unavoidable concomitant of the development process, we need to ensure that this does not put undue pressure on Agriculture or lead to inefficient or suboptimal land-use. It is necessary to offset the loss of Agricultural land by bringing more land under intensive cultivation. There is a large amount of degraded or waste land that can be reclaimed through watershed development. There is also a considerable amount of saline and sodic land, which can be brought back to cultivation with appropriate treatment. For watershed development, the state governments may converge wherever possible, with other Rural Development programmes like National Rural Employment Guarantee Programmme (NREGP).
Water is a scarce but critical input for Agriculture. This calls for more effective utilization of existing irrigation potential, expansion of irrigation, wherever possible, at an economic cost and also better water management in rainfed areas where assured irrigation is not possible. Watershed Management, Rainwater Harvesting, and Ground Water Recharge can help augment water availability in rainfed areas.
The dry-land farming system approach, which leads to improved soil moisture retention; ground water recharging; and facilitates alternate land use by adopting an ‘Agri-Horti-Livestock’ approach, needs to be promoted to enhance productivity and sustainability of dry-land agriculture in rain-fed areas. The National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA) has been established to coordinate all Schemes relating to Watershed Development and other aspects of land use. This will address the problems being faced by the farmers in rain-fed areas in a holistic manner.
Sustained long-run growth depends significantly upon technological progress and steps are, therefore, needed to strengthen research in Agriculture. The government is giving priority in agriculture research in terms of increased investment. Research priorities are gradually shifting towards evolving cropping systems suited to various agro-climatic conditions and towards enhancing the yield potential in rain fed areas through development of drought and pest resistant varieties.
The National Commission on Farmers (NCF) has drawn attention to the knowledge deficit that exists at present and explains much of the difference between yields realized in experiments and what farmers actually get. To overcome information gaps and for advice in contingencies such as pest-attacks, it is necessary to revitalize the extension system in a manner that links universities and best practices effectively to farmers. States need to take urgent steps in this area.
It is heartening to note that National Productivity Council is playing a catalytic role in promoting productivity of the Agricultural sector and has taken into account majority of the stakeholders under the 14 categories, who play a critical role in the growth process of the agricultural sector.
Taking Agriculture to a higher trajectory of 4% annual growth can be met only with improvements in the scale as well as quality of Agricultural reforms undertaken by states and various Agencies at the grass root level of operation. On this occasion of National Productivity Awards distribution ceremony I appeal to all the stakeholders to join their hands in enhancing the productivity of the Agricultural sector.
Let me once again express my heartfelt felicitations to the winners of the Awards. I hope that NPC will continue to motivate Indian farmers and Agricultural organizations to strive for ever higher productivity that is so crucial for achieving the targeted growth in Agriculture during the 11th Five Year Plan.
Jai Hind