(Premium) Gist of Press Information Bureau: October 2013

Premium - Gist of Press Information Bureau: October 2013

NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY MISSION STRATEGIES BEING FINE-TUNED TO ACHIEVE HIGHER TARGETS IN 12TH PLAN (Full Material Available Only For Premium Members)
TAGORE AWARD FOR CULTURAL HARMONY, 2013 TO BE CONFERRED ON ZUBIN MEHTA (Full Material Available Only For Premium Members)

NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY MISSION STRATEGIES BEING FINE-TUNED TO ACHIEVE HIGHER TARGETS IN 12TH PLAN

Shri Pawar Calls for Greater Research Paertnerships, Technologies to Mitigate Impact of Climate Change The strategies adopted by the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) for increasing productivity and production of major crops are being further fine-tuned so that the momentum gained by the Mission in the 11th Plan is used for achieving 25 million tonne per year additional foodgrain production by 2017.

Addressing the General Council Meeting of NFSM here today, Agriculture and Food Processing Industries Minister, Shri Sharad Pawar proposed that new partnerships be forged with research organizations and innovative approaches adopted for developing effective technologies. He also appreciated the role being played by international research organizations, besides ICAR institutes and universities, in
supporting various technology initiatives under the Mission.

Shri Pawar recalled the monsoon situation in many parts of the country last year and its impact on agriculture. Though farm technologies developed by ICAR and other research organizations have to some extent are mitigating the impact of changing climatic factors, the efforts need to be accelerated ‘to develop more effective ways to address various abiotic and biotic stresses faced by crops’, he said. This was the 9th Meeting of the General Council of NFSM. The Council is the apex policy making body of NFSM. It is chaired by Agriculture Minister and has representatives from various Departments and research organizations.

In the 11th Plan, NFSM exceeded its target of adding 20 million tonne foodgrain production per year in 2011-12, a year before the target date. In the first year of the current Plan, i.e. 2012-13, as against the target of producing additional 2 MT rice, 1 MT wheat and 1.25 MT pulses, NFSM has achieved significantly higher production - 7 MT rice, 9 MT wheat and 2.5 MT pulses.

Since the Mission seeks to improve productivity of crops in districts with low productivity, an exercise is being undertaken to include new districts in which productivity has remained lower than the national and states averages. Simultaneously, districts that have attained higher than average productivity will be taken out of the purview of NFSM. -2- As the strategies adopted by NFSM proved successful in the 11th Plan, coarse cereals and fodder crops have been brought under it in the 12th Plan (besides rice, wheat and pulses which were the crops under NFSM in the 11th Plan).

In 2012-13, Rs. 1566.48 crore was spent under NFSM. As much as Rs. 651.16 crore out of this went for promoting pulses crops. In the current year (2013-14), Rs 2254 crore has been allocated to the scheme.