Posts Tagged Manmohan Singh

“We must endeavour to raise our agricultural growth rate from around 2 per cent per annum to 4 per cent. I have no doubt that we can overcome all these challenges, given sustained efforts and an approach different from business as usual,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said speaking at the convocation ceremony of Govind Ballabh Pantnagar University of Agriculture and Technology here.

“Investment in the agricultural sector needs to increase, a larger area needs to be covered under irrigation, agricultural markets need to be reformed and farmers need to be provided remunerative prices for their produce and better quality seeds and inputs,” he said.

Then, He said “To increase production we must increase our farm yields, because the scope for increasing the area under cultivation and under irrigation is rather limited. Yields must go up particularly in those parts of India where they have lagged behind compared to other parts of the country. The National Food Security Mission (NFSM), the National Horticulture Mission (NHM), and the Technology Mission on Oilseeds and Pulses (TMOP) have been launched for achieving higher production of food grains, oilseeds and pulses and horticultural corps”.

He also said “I would also urge the faculty and students of this university to focus some of their dissertations on evaluation of agricultural programmes and schemes”.