Monday, May 2 2005 16:53 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Government has decided to step up investments in agriculture through introduction of marketing reforms for promoting public-private partnership, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said in the Lok Sabha today (May 2, 2005).

Several measures such as doubling of rural credit, special programme for dry land farming, stepping up public investment in agriculture research and strengthening of rural infrastructure and irrigation have been initiated, he said.

Pawar, who was making a statement on the status of implementation of recommendations contained in the first report of the Parliament Standing Committee on Agriculture, said most of the recommendations have been accepted by the Government and action has already been initiated.

Pawar said that States have been given flexibility to select schemes of their needs and priorities under Macro-Management of Agriculture Scheme.

He said that the contribution of State Governments in this regard has been brought down to 10 per cent, as against the normal level of 25 per cent.

In case of North-Eastern States, the entire fund is provided by the Centre under this scheme, the Minister said.

To ameliorate the lot of farmers in the wake of suicide cases, Pawar said that several measures like issuing of standing guidelines to banks for providing relief to farmers in areas affected by natural calamities have been taken.

The Department of Science and Technology has announced a package of Rs 500 crore for procuring modern equipment for accurate weather forecasting, he said.