India will witness normal monsoon this year but the Government is not taking any chances after last year's drought, Union Agriculture Secretary P.K. Basu said in New Delhi on Friday. Basu said a formal forecast by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) was still in the works.
The Centre is putting in place a plan to maximise kharif production in all monsoon scenarios by starting early and asking states to prepare detailed contingency plans, Basu said. “I am confident that if there is a drought, we are much better prepared this year," he said.
It may be recalled that the main kharif output was hit last year due to the worst drought in 37 years.
While early indications are pointing to a normal monsoon this year, States have been told to be prepared for any eventuality ranging from normal rainfall to the worst.
The two-day National Agriculture Conference for Kharif Campaign 2010 concluded in New Delhi on Friday with a resolve to maximize kharif production in all monsoon scenarios.
Arrangements have also been tied up in advance to ensure that fertilizer is available to the farmers in adequate quantities. Similarly, it is being ensured that quality seeds of all kharif crops are made available to the farmers before start of kharif season.
Officers from the concerned Central Ministries and States decided an exhaustive strategy to maximize kharif production by the best use of inputs, water, credit and funds under different schemes.
The Conference was held on 18th-19th March. It was inaugurated by the Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.
Addressing the participants, the Agriculture Minister stated that the severe drought during last Kharif season had posed a serious challenge in achieving production targets. He expressed hope that the initiatives of the Agriculture Ministry through the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) and the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) would ensure additional funding support to the States that have relatively poor infrastructure and largely depend on rainfall for agriculture.
Pawar added that the additional allocation of Rs4bn to the States in the North-Eastern region under the RKVY would help in holistic and sustained development of agriculture in that region.
He emphasized on the need to develop appropriate technologies by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and State Agriculture Universities (SAUs) to address the problems of soil health, depleting water levels and preservation of bio-diversity which would help in coping with the likely impact of climate change on agriculture. He also mentioned that with the launch of the Accelerated Pulses Production Programme, the allocation under the pulses component of NFSM would be doubled and all districts in the selected States would be covered.
The Agriculture Minister highlighted that the Government continues to pursue the policy of increasing the availability of credit to farmers at concessional rates and mentioned that with the increase in the incentive for timely repayment of short term crop loans from 1% to 2%, the effective rate of interest has come down to 5%. He also stated that the specific needs of women farmers would be addressed through the Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Yojana under the National Rural Livelihood Mission of the Rural Development Ministry.
Pawar urged the States to ensure judicious use of budget provided to Agriculture Department and provide support in terms of power, credit, irrigation, marketing etc. to farmers to meet the food security and nutritional demands of the country at affordable prices. Referring to the issue of price rise in the recent months, the Agriculture Minister stated that the increase in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of wheat and rice during the last year was bound to have impact on the price levels of these commodities.
The Government had taken a conscious decision of increasing the MSPs to motivate the farmers to enhance production and also increase the availability of various agricultural commodities in the country. He also pointed out that significant variations in the successive production estimates reported by the State Governments, particularly in case of sugarcane during the last few years have adversely affected import/export decisions of the Government and availability of sugarcane. Therefore, States need to assign high priority to streamlining their systems of agricultural statistics as they have far reaching policy implications, Pawar said.