About time farmers earned better income: PM

NEW DELHI: Moved by the spate of suicides by farmers in various parts of the country, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today made a strong case for better prices for farm products, even if it meant that prices of some food commodities have to go up.

"We need to understand that if we want better prices for farmers so that they earn a better livelihood, the prices of what they produce and sell will have to go up. We certainly cannot grudge our farmers better incomes when incomes of other sections of society are rising," he said in his Independence day address to the nation from the ramparts of historic Red Fort here.

Referring to his visit to Vidarbha, Singh said the plight of the farmers there made a deep impact on him. "The agricultural crisis that is forcing them to take the desperate step of committing suicide needs to be resolved. We need to think about how we can provide a decent livelihood to our farmers?" he said.

Singh said farmers in many parts of the country were in a crisis, not managing to eke out a decent living from their land. "We will need to work towards ensuring more remunerative prices for our farmers," he said.

Even as he mentioned the various steps taken by the Government to address the problems of the farmers, the Prime Minister said much still needed to be done to improve their prospects.

"I am aware of the acute distress of our farmers who bear the burden of heavy debt. We have recently constituted an expert group to look into the problem of agricultural indebtedness. I am confident that in a few months, we will take concrete measures to help our farmers overcome the burden of crushing debt," he said.

The Prime Minister said the government had taken steps to improve the lot of farmers and almost doubled agricultural credit in less than three years and provided them with short term loans at 7 per cent interest rates.

"We have waived interest on over-due loans for debt-stressed farmers in Vidarbha and will do the same in other suicide-affected districts. We are trying to reach institutional credit to each and every farmer so that they are out of the clutches of moneylenders," he said.

The Prime Minister said that the Government was reviving the cooperative banking system for which a Rs 13,000 crore package was being implemented.

He said emphasis was being laid on horticulture, animal husbandry, cotton, sugarcane and other crops.

"A National Fisheries Development Board has been set up for increasing the livelihood of fishermen. Agricultural research is being improved and Krishi Vigyan Kendras will soon be functioning in every district of the country by the year end," Singh said.

He described the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and Bharat Nirman programme of the government as "weapons in the 'War on Poverty'."

"The most effective weapon against poverty is employment. And, higher economic growth is the best way to generate employment," the Prime Minister said.

He said more than two crore families had already registered under the NREGA programme, covering 200 districts and added that it would be expanded gradually to the entire country.

Singh also lauded the modernisation programmes in villages under the Bharat Nirman programme and said that by 2009 "visible results" were expected across the country.