December 10, 2010

 

India's new food security bill requires higher agricultural output

 

 

India's Food and Agriculture Minister said last Friday (Dec 3) it would not be possible to implement the proposed National Food Security bill without a significant rise in the country's agricultural production.

 

"If we have to honour the announcement of the President (to bring a new food security law), our requirement will be more than 65 million tonnes. Unless and until, production and productivity has improved, it will not be possible to provide this kind of food grains," said Minister Sharad Pawar.

 

The food grains requirement of over 65 million tonnes is based on the recommendation of the Sonia-Gandhi headed National Advisory Council (NAC) on the proposed bill, under which the President had announced that the government will provide 25 kg of rice or wheat a month to poor at INR3 (US$0.07) per kg.

 

The requirement of food grains is higher than the government's total procurement of 50-56 million tonnes in last two years, the minister said.

 

"If we have to procure 65 million tonnes from the open market, we have to see that production has been substantially increased," Pawar noted.

 

According to official estimates, the country's food grains production stood at 218.20 million tonnes in 2009-10 crop year. While this year, the government has kept a target of 244.50 million tonnes.

 

Meanwhile, NAC has made suggestions on the number of beneficiaries to be covered under the proposed bill and it is being examined by the expert panel constituted by the Prime Minister's Office.

 

NAC has suggested the government to grant a legal entitlement to subsidised food grains to at least 75% of the country's population under the proposed Bill through a reformed PDS system from the next financial year.

 

It has suggested the government to provide 35 kg of food grains a month to priority households at a subsidised rate of INR1 (US$0.02) per kg for millets and INR2 (US$0.04) for wheat.

 

For the general category, the NAC has suggested supplying 20 kg of food grains at a price not exceeding 50% of the current support price, which comes to INR5.50 (US$0.12) for wheat and INR7.70 (US$0.17) per kg for rice.

 

At present, the government provides cheap food grains to 18.04 crore families, which includes 6.52 BPL families and 11.5 APL families, under the Public Distribution System (PDS).

 

Offtake under the PDS in the last fiscal year was 42.4 million tonnes.