PM Reviews Growth Of Farm Sector In AP

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on July 31 kicked off the process of creating the road map for achieving the dual goals - related to food security as well as the urgent need to make farming a viable proposition, beginning with Andhra Pradesh. Chairing the first-ever joint review of problems related to agriculture and allied sector in Andhra, the Prime Minister called for bridging inter-regional gaps in crop yields, timely completion of irrigation projects, efficient water management, and special focus on rainfed areas, which would account for 40 per cent of the total farm land after the completion of all the projects in the state. In a suggestion to the vexed problem of poor access to institutional credit in the agriculture sector, Singh told chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy to bring the entire farming community in the state under the ongoing financial inclusion programme by working closely with the Reserve Bank of India. Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar raised his concern stating that despite the increase in volume of credit flow, the number of farm loan accounts availing of credit was coming down significantly.

While the number of such loan accounts at the national level declined to 39.7 million in the year 2006-07 from 41.3 million in 2004-05, in Andhra this number was down to 4.8 million from 6.8 million during the same period. This indicates that a large number of farmers are turning defaulters and are consequently denied access to institutional credit. A significant outcome of today''s meet was that the state government has agreed to work on specific measures that need to be implemented in the agriculture sector for increasing the output through a resolution. This also includes the state''s targets under the food security mission being launched by the Centre.