NITI Aayog mulling big reforms in agriculture sector
NEW DELHI: In an effort to raise agriculture productivity and raise farm prices, government’s premier think tank NITI Aayog is considering a series of big ticket agriculture reforms that include changes in the fertiliser policy to allow free import of urea, explore transgenic crops in pulses and oilseeds and make land laws transparent.
A paper emerging from the work of Aayog’s task force on agriculture development, has moving fertiliser subsidy to to the DBT platform so as to pay directly to farmers and domestic urea producers. “To ensure that the farmers can buy subsidised urea when he needs it, decanilise its imports,” it said.
According to the paper, India should explore selective use of transgenic seed varieties with the necessary safeguards in areas where conventional technology is not yielding much needed gains like pulses and oilseeds.
Emphasising on need for remunerative prices for farmers, the Aayog’s paper has suggested adopting system of “price deficiency payment”.
“While MSP may still be used for need-based procurement, the remainder of the produce may be covered under price deficiency payment as this would help prevent unwanted stocks and spread price incentives to farmers,” it said.
Commenting on the needs for transparent land laws, the paper has said it will allow the potential lessee or tenant or sharecropper to engage in written contracts with the land owner while the land owner will also be able to lease land without fear of losing it to the lessor. “It is a win-win reform,” it said.
Read full article: Economic Times
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