Says country may head towards bumper production of wheat this year
Sharad Pawar
Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said here on
Sunday that farmers’ suicides in the country had dropped by 50 per cent
according to recent statistics.
“The efforts that we
have been taking since 2005-06 have been bearing fruits,” he said while
addressing the media after announcing ‘Krishi Vasant,’ the largest
agricultural exhibition to be held in Nagpur in February.
“The
agricultural universities in the area have been entrusted with the
responsibility of taking care of the families of the deceased farmers.
The villages, where suicides have taken place, have been turned into
model villages to ensure that farmers do not take such drastic steps
again,” Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said during the
press meet.
Mr. Pawar indicated that the country might be heading towards bumper production of wheat this year.
“The
overall crop condition of wheat is extremely good this year. Last year,
we were the second-highest producers of wheat,” he said.
He
refuted media reports that the country had to import sugar last year.
He said the Centre and the State government were taking efforts to
dissuade additional farmers from taking up sugarcane planting.
“
There has been no import of sugar in the past two years. In fact,
today, we are number two in sugar production in the world. But when the
production increases more than the demand, steps have to be taken to
dissuade farmers from cultivating sugarcane. We have been taking a few
steps like introducing excise cost. These will help us come out of the
problem,” he said.
‘Only production not marketing’
When
asked if he agreed with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s assessment that
the government had performed well, but had failed to market itself, he
said that his job was production, and not marketing.
“Six
years ago, we had to import wheat. Today, India is a major player in
the international grain market. This is an achievement of the
government. There are incentives for export. We have brought Food
Security Act to ensure that 65 per cent of the can buy food grains at
cheaper rates,” he said.
On the onion export policy,
he said the basis was to attain balance between sufficient domestic
supply and giving decent price to the producer. “The prices of onion
have stabilised now. While reducing the prices, it is necessary that the
producer is not made to bear losses. That is being taken care of,” he
said.
‘Krishi Vasant’, the national agriculture fair cum exhibition, has been touted as the ‘Mahakumbh of agriculture’ by Mr. Chavan.
The
five-day exhibition to be inaugurated by the President in Nagpur on
February 9, is expected to attract footfall of more than five lakh
farmers from across the country.
“The Indian
agriculture has witnessed turnaround after a decade of slowdown. Exports
have tripled in the last four years. This unprecedented exhibition has
been organised on that background,” Mr. Pawar said. More than 50 lakh
farmers would benefit from it as it would be webcasted in different
parts of the country.
‘Most ambitious event’’
“The
event will be a watershed in Indian agriculture. It is the most
ambitious agricultural exhibition ever attempted in the country. It will
allow farmers to witness success stories. The highlights will be live
demonstrations of crops. Every aspect of agriculture, rural economy have
been showcased. There will be interactive sessions, use of information
technology, address by massive number of experts from India and abroad.
Arrangements have been made to ensure that the experts will speak to
farmers in local language,” Mr. Chavan said.
He also
talked about the delisting of fruits and vegetables from the APMC ambit
in the State, and said the administration was still in talks with all
the stakeholders on the issue.
“Farmers should be
given a choice about whether they want to market their fruits and
vegetables directly, or get them to APMC. Yes, we will have to create
massive storage and logistics infrastructure for that,” Mr. Chavan said.
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