BANGALORE: The State Government has decided to set up a permanent Cabinet subcommittee to oversee the implementation of the new agricultural policy, which was announced here on Thursday.

Addressing presspersons after the release of the policy, Minister for Agriculture Bandeppa Kashempur said the subcommittee would regularly review the implementation of the policy and release of funds to the sector.

He said the policy had been formulated after detailed discussions with farmers' leaders, elected representatives, non-governmental organisations and chairman of the National Commission on Farmers M.S. Swaminathan. The `Panchasutra' — protect and improve soil health, conserve natural resources, ensure timely availability of credit, integrate post-harvest processing with the production process and reduce the gap between lab to land transfer of technology — advocated by Prof. Swaminathan had been incorporated in the policy, he said.

Warning system

The policy proposes to merge the Drought Monitoring Cell with the Karnataka Natural Disaster Monitoring Cell to provide forewarning of natural disasters and suggest mitigation measures.

Incentives will be provided for farmers who take up organic farming and produce crops exceeding five quintals.

The Minister said efforts would be made to strengthen the Raitha Samparka Kendras and the Krishi Marata Vahini to provide effective market information and intelligence to farmers. In order to prevent the supply of inferior-quality inputs, he said dealerships for seeds, fertilizers and pesticides would only be allotted to agriculture graduates or diploma holders.

Fall in growth

Earlier, launching the policy, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said the farm sector had been performed badly due to drought. The sector had grown at 3.2 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) from 1980 to 1996. But it fell to 2.1 per cent of the GSDP in the 9th Five-Year Plan and 1.5 per cent in the 10th Plan.

He said the Government would step up pressure on the Centre to direct all banks, including the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), to grant farm loan at four per cent interest. The Government would also give serious thought to the kinds of programmes required to prevent farmers from committing suicide, he said.

Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa said the Budget for 2007-08 would lay more emphasis on agricultural and allied activities.

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