Create 50 grain storage facilities for food law: MS
Swaminathan
(Swaminathan said the government
)
NEW DELHI: In order to implement the
Food Security Law smoothly, the government should create ultra- modern
foodgrain storage facilities – each with a million tonne capacity – at 50
locations across the country, noted agriculture scientist
M S Swaminathan said today.
Outlining the challenges facing
Indian agriculture, he also suggested that food losses and wastages should be
eliminated or minimised at production as well as consumption levels to ensure
food security for people.
Swaminathan said the government will
require 64 million tonne foodgrain every year to fulfil the commitment under
Food Security Law, recently passed by the Parliament, that provides for 5 kg of
foodgrain per month per person to 67 per cent of the country’s population at Rs
1-3 per kg.
“There should be national grid
of grain storage. In 50 different locations, including north-eastern region,
develop ultra-modern storage with a capacity of one million tonnes each,”
Swaminathan said, while addressing Agriculture Leadership Summit organised by
Agriculture Today magazine.
He noted that right to food can be
implemented only with the help of farmers. “We have to turn our attention
from files to farmers”. Stating that there is “no time to relax”
as farm sector faces many challenges, Swaminathan said the post-harvest
management has not kept pace with the increase in production. He pointed out
that one-third of global food production
is lost or wasted and emphasised on the need to minimise or eliminate food
losses at production level and reduce wastages at consumption stage.
Swaminathan also expressed concern
over high degree of malnutrition both globally and India. Speaking at the
event, Textile Minister K S Rao said there is great injustice being done to the
farming community in the pricing policy of the agriculture produce and demanded
a new, more remunerative policy.
The minister expressed concern over
the widening disparity between the income of farmers and urban people. Rao
suggested that there should not be any interest on the farm loan. “Status
and respect of farmers is going down. How long it will go on,” Rao asked,
adding that nobody speaks for farmers in Parliament, while lobbyists are there
for industrialists.
BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi
spoke about protecting bio-diversity of Indian agriculture and cautioned
against becoming dependent on one particular seed.
“We need to determine the
importance of agriculture in our economy. We have to think about agriculture
policy,” Joshi said, adding that the policy should take into account the
land, water, seed, productivity and bio-diversity.
“Farmers should get seeds, fertilisers
and pesticides,” he said, emphasising upon the need of investment and
research in the agriculture sector.