Agro reforms for credit and investment to be major challenges

MUMBAI: Agricultural credit and avenues for investing in agriculture would be the major challenges before the Indian economy in future, according to Union Agriculture Minister Ajit Singh.
Agricultural reforms should occupy a major place in the national agenda after industrial and fiscal reforms, he said after inaugurating on Frida a day-long “Agro-Index Seminar-Opportunities in Agri-business�, organised by the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
He said agriculture was a priority area with lending target of 18 per cent, which had never been fulfilled though 78 per cent of the deposits came from this sector.
“Even in statistics, agricultural contribution to GDP is shown only at 24 per cent by excluding agrarian products from pharmaceuticals, food processing and sugar. Only three per cent of public investment and eight per cent of the investment comes from banks goes to agriculture.�
The uncertainties of yields and prices have made the farmers dependent on cooperatives and money lenders. Sixty per cent of the credit requirements in this segment of economy comes from money lenders and the input costs have increased resulting in small farmers suicides, Singh said.
He also called for doing away with agricultural prices and marketing committee regulations for opening up market choices for agricultural commodities in the wake of India moving from scarcity to surplus production.
He, however, lamented at the ineffectiveness of the agricultural lobby in influencing policy decisions and for merely paying lip service to the cause of farmers.